acupuncture and phytotherapy |

How many acupuncture points are needed to say that the protocol is no longer effective?

Among patients who do not respond to acupuncture to small differences between acupuncture protocols that have not yet been measured in studies and based solely on opinion, always conditioned, of the acupuncturists becomes virtually impossible to answer this question.

In a protocol of 11 acupuncture points if 2 points are wrong hardly the protocol ceases to be effective. Could also be equally effective when compared with an 11 points correct protocol? Other equally interesting questions may arise.

A protocol is well done when it is able to read the therapeutic principles that gave rise to it and understand the patient’s symptoms. In a past article I mentioned the yin deficiency with dryness symptoms (dry mouth and throat, for example) and night sweats. In this case the therapeutic principles are: a) nourish the yin, b) to nourish body fluids and c) contracting the yin.
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How does these factors increase acupuncturists ignorance?

By this time I hope that the reader is convinced that the effectiveness of an acupuncture protocol has little to do with the beauty of it. In some cases the effectiveness of an acupuncture protocol does not tell us much about the knowledge of the acupuncturist. Anyone using local acupuncture points to do acupuncture treatment for pain (more than 90% of complaints at the acupuncture clinic/acupuncture center) or who knows the location of the 24 points used in clinical practice can obtain some sort of results.

This raises a serious problem for the development of the acupuncturist and, most particularly the students who still doing acupuncture training. Especially some senior students in acupuncture school, who think no longer have anything to learn and that teachers are a mix of mummified Neanderthal with a very bad book yet to be written.
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When does the acupuncture protocol begins to become ineffective?

Something truly ironic is that a protocol of acupuncture done well is not necessarily effective. In patients unresponsive to acupuncture, well done acupuncture will not get any results but in other patients a protocol of acupuncture done badly can obtain beneficial clinical results.

What then can be determinant for the effectiveness of the acupuncture protocol? Are the answers to the effectiveness of a protocol of acupuncture its number of points or the way will be built? These and other questions arise in the course of our article.
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Years ago I treated a patient with vertigo as the chief complaint. At the time, and despite being aware of other acupuncture points, I used, as basis protocol, for dealing with vertigo or dizziness three acupuncture points: GV20/baihui, GB20/fengchi and ST8/touwei.

The first 3 treatments went without effect. The patient’s symptoms remained exactly the same as they were. On the fourth appointment I decided to add another acupuncture point, extremely important (and which became part of my base protocols on the treatment of this complaint). I speak to you about the point GV16/fengfu and that together with the point 2GV0/baihui makes the protocol of the sea of marrow.

I tell to you this story to draw attention to one fact: many times the addition of a single acupuncture point makes all the difference in clinical outcome. The efficacy in some clinical cases, it can really depend on the choice of a single acupuncture point.
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The symptoms we want to relieve can be treated in many ways. We can use only the symptomatic acupuncture points or we can try to adapt the entire acupuncture protocol to points dealing with the symptom when framed in a clinical pattern.

One of the symptoms referred was sweating. To treat sweating you can resort to acupuncture points HT6 (Yinxi), SI3 (Houxi), LI4 (hegu), KD7 (fuliu) for example. The most often used acupuncture points to treat sweating are SI3 (Houxi) and HT6 (Yinxi). However I can adjust these points to particular features of the symptoms.

So if we are in summer and there is sweating with heat intolerance we can give more attention to the point LI4 (Hegu). In winter, with cold, or if the patient mention cold sweat I can give attention to the acupuncture point SI3 (Houxi) – opening point of the du may  meridian. Point LI4 (hegu) may also be used with moxibustion in order to help warm the body.
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By this time I have published four texts on acupuncture and addiction. The first text that talks about the true efficacy of acupuncture in the treatment of addiction, the gap between scientific studies and alleged successes of 90% addiction treatment, the pacients triage techniques, etc …

I published a trilogy of texts taken from the book Advanced Modern Chinese Acupuncture Therapy on nicotine dependence, alcoholism and addiction to other drugs (cocaine, heroin, amphetamines, etc …).

The latter articles focused on the explanation of acupuncture points and acupuncture protocols to combat the addiction directly concerned. But they were fixed acupuncture protocols, they did not explain the principles underlying the acupuncture protocols, nor the logic of their construction so I raised several issues which I will discuss in another article.
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Once, a student asked me about the real risk of acupuncture in pneumothorax.  Pneumothorax is the presence of air in the pleural cavity. This air can arise due to illness or physical trauma – like the prick of a needle. It is a medical emergency.

Her question had come from a doctor who had told her that probably the risk was virtually zero because acupuncture needle were very thin and from acupuncture classes where specific puncture techniques were advised in the chest to avoid the appearance of such medical complications.

Unfortunately it is a very real risk and there are documented cases, as a little search on Google scholar can evidence. Fortunately it is extremely rare. Despite frequent minor side effects in acupuncture treatments, such as pain or bleeding, serious side effects are very rare.
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The text on holism and empathy I showed how often people confuse empathy with holism. In That article I drew attention to the fact that many of the complaints of the patients are due to the fact that medical doctors are unsympathetic to the patient and do not devote the time that they would like.

Interestingly many doctors complain acupuncturists and other practitioners giving the idea that their clinical results are not due to the art they practice but only to our sympathy when treating patients. ”It is important for patients to talk to someone for some time” and other similar statements seem to justify the clinical results.

The accusations from both parties, are polite and politically correct statements that pass more aggressive messages. A kind of latent trigger points applied to interprofessional relations. And both have something of true in them.
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One of the most important aspects in the treatment of facial paralysis, is the daily practice that the patient should subject their affected muscles. There are specific movements that will be described into detail in another text, which the patient can be taught to do.

In Clinic Acupuncture II class I teach a subject which talks about the selection of points according to muscle groups (functional miology) and electropuncture. Obviously one of the problems addressed there is facial paralysis.

As I mentioned in another text you can ask the patient to make three distinguished initial movements: frown, wrinkling the groove around the mouth (I don´t know the anatomical  term in english) and fill his mouth with air. These are also three movements that the patient can do during the day in order to recover full muscle function.
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A few years ago, I was with a school classmate treating a patient. After a while and a bit sick of seeing that she kept walking with his finger from one side to the other decided to ask what she was doing.
She replied: “I feeling the acupuncture point!”
Obviously I already knew what she was trying to do. At the bottom she was doing what she had been taught. Acupuncture professionals are taught that feel acupuncture points is important. Without feeling the acupuncture points we can not find them and acupuncture loses much of its effectiveness, because the needles are placed in the wrong place.
Fortunately I have intelligence and knowledge to know that this is nothing more than ” Asian version of harry potter stories “. There are currents in TCM That consider relevant to feel the acupuncture point. However, there are other currents that do not give importance to that. When I was in China, I have never seen anyone concerned in “feeling” the acupuncture point. The needles were inserted in the region where the acupoint was described. A few days below, others above, but always on that anatomical region.

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