Inflammatory conditions can be treated effectively with full body and auricular acupuncture

Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients,  May, 2004  by Honora Lee Wolfe

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Inflammatory processes in the human body, as described by Western medicine, usually produce redness, swelling, pain, and possibly fever. Inflammation may be caused by trauma, bacterial infection, excessive heat, toxins, over-use, autoimmune reactions, or other unknown causes. Since pain is almost always a part of the body's inflammatory response, acupuncture is often an effective therapy for ailments with this Western medical descriptor as part of the disease cause.

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For example, in study after study of inflammatory pain described by Stephen Birch and Richard Hammerschlag in their paper, Acupuncture Efficacy: A Compendium of Controlled Clinical Studies, acupuncture patients consistently experienced significant relief from a wide variety of inflammatory pain, notably osteoarthritis, tendonitis, and fibromyalgia. (1)

While certain acupuncture points may be commonly used for pain in a given area of the body, every patient's condition must be discriminated as to its Chinese disease causes in order to be treated effectively. For example, while one might assume that if something is called "inflammation," there would be obvious heat symptoms. This is not always the case and people with this Western moniker may or may not have swelling, redness, or palpable heat on the surface of the painful area. Therefore, a standard Chinese pattern discrimination must be performed because it is possible for many Chinese patterns to be involved in what Western medicine calls inflammation. While dampness and heat may play a role in some patients' conditions, others may present with severe qi vacuity and blood insufficiency and display no heat or dampness at all. Other cases will clearly involve static blood or qi stagnation. Most cases will be a combination of several Chinese disease causes, all of which need to be addressed in the acupuncture protocol for the treatment to be most effective.

For example, if a patient with osteoarthritis of the knee joint has symptoms corroborating dampness and heat of the yang ming channels and spleen qi vacuity weakness, one might choose to drain Zu San Li (St 36) and Yin Ling Quan (Sp 9) while supplementing Shi Dou (Sp 17) or Pi Shu (Bl 20) with moxibustion and either thread moxibustion or needling on Du Bi (St 35) as a local point without stimulation. On the other hand, if no dampness or heat is present, and systemic blood vacuity and local blood stasis are the main presenting patterns, one might bleed local spider nevi and moxa the painful area to increase blood nourishment in the local area.

Another effective way to treat inflammatory pain disorders that may be used no matter what patterns are presenting is auricular acupuncture. This type of therapy seems to work more through the Western nervous system and less through the Chinese system of channels and network vessels, and therefore is less dependent on pattern discrimination to be successful. An example of research using auricular acupuncture is described below.

In a clinical audit conducted by doctors Wang Mei-hua & Yue Dong-shan as reported in Beijing Chinese Medicine, #6, 1992, p. 42 the doctors present their results of research using an auriculo-acupuncture treatment for neurodermatitis. Wang and Yue treated 69 cases of neurodermatitis using the following auricular points. The main points Fei (Lungs), Pi Zhi Xia (Lower Skin), and San Jiao (Triple Heater) were used on all patients. Other points were chosen according to specific symptoms. If there was severe itching, Shen Men (Spirit Gate) was added. If heat was severe, Er Jian (Ear Apex) was added. If the emotions were not easy, Xin (Heart) was added. If the disease had lasted a long time without being cured, Zhen (Pillow) was added. If heat and itching were extremely severe, Er Jian (Ear Apex) was bled. Ears were first disinfected. Then 0.5 cun filiform needles were inserted on one side only in 4-6 points per time. The needles were only retained a short period of time and were manipulated once during that period. One treatment was given per day with 10 treatments constituting one course of therapy. If no result was obtained after five treatments, treatment was stopped without doing the entire course.

Cure consisted of elimination of the dermatitis with no recurrence within three months. Improvement consisted of elimination of dermatitis but recurrence within three months. No result meant that there was no change after the treatment from before in the dermatitis. Of the 69 cases treated, 10 were cured after one course of therapy, 49 after 2-3 courses. Thus the total number cured was 59 or 85.51%. Another nine (13.04%) experienced improvement, and only one (1.45%) failed to register any improvement. Therefore the total amelioration rate was 98.55%.

Thus, we can see that there is more than one possible effective acupuncture approach for working with patients who come in with a Western diagnosis of inflammatory pain. For practitioners working with many patients in a day or who do not have the time for a full Chinese diagnostic workup, auricular therapy may be an effective adjunct to nutraceutical, herbal, or dietary therapy for quickly reducing these patients' discomfort.