Qi Spot

In several previous posts, I have often lambasted the self-induced blindness of skeptics who love to “point out” that real acupuncture seems to be no better than sham acupuncture (http://qi-spot.com/2009/11/15/news-bias-a-pain-in-the-neck/, http://qi-spot.com/2009/11/11/associated-press-needs-new-glasses/, http://qi-spot.com/2009/10/17/lend-me-your-ears-ear-acupuncture-for-back-pain-in-pregnant-women/).  Well now comes another article (http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE5BL3J320091222) this time talking about Acupuncture in relieving itch.

Acupuncture may ease the itch of eczema
Amy Norton
Tue Dec 22, 2009 1:22pm EST

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – An acupuncture session may bring some itch relief to people with the allergic skin condition known as atopic eczema, a preliminary study suggests.

Eczema is a general term for conditions marked by inflammation and dry, red, itchy patches on the skin. The most common form, atopic eczema, is seen in people with a predisposition to allergies, like hay fever or asthma.

In other words, skin wheals in people with Lungs that are deficient in Defensive Qi.

In the new study, German researchers looked at the short-term effects of acupuncture on skin inflammation and itching in 30 people with atopic eczema.

They found that the therapy, when done minutes after patients’ skin was exposed to an allergen (either pollen or dust mites), appeared to soothe subjective feelings of itchiness.

In addition, when patients were exposed to the allergen for a second time shortly after the acupuncture session, they tended to have a less-severe skin reaction, the researchers report in the journal Allergy.

Allergy.  Not just some two bit journal that can be bashed.  Also, note the effect on subsequent attacks.  Of course, it would be better if it works weeks after treatment.  Wait, it does.

The findings show that in this “experimental setting,” acupuncture seems to ease the itch of atopic eczema, lead researcher Dr. Florian Pfab, of the Technical University of Munich, told Reuters Health in an email.

The study does not, however, answer the question of whether acupuncture as practiced in the real world would have similar benefits.

For the study, Pfab and his colleagues looked at all 30 patients under three different test conditions.

In one, patients had their skin exposed to either pollen or dust-mite allergens, then received true, or “point-specific,” acupuncture — in which needles were placed in traditional acupuncture points that, according to Chinese medicine, are related to itchy skin.

In another condition, the allergen exposure was followed by “placebo-point” acupuncture, where the needles were inserted into skin areas not used in traditional Chinese medicine. In the third condition, patients received no treatment.

Again, needles were inserted in true points, non points and in a third group, nothing.  According to the skeptics, inserting a needle anywhere activates the placebo effect – the patient THINKS they’ll feel better – and so they do.

Overall, Pfab’s team found, patients’ itchiness ratings were lower after they received true acupuncture, compared with both no treatment and placebo acupuncture.

Then, when the researchers exposed patients’ skin to the allergens a second time, skin flare-ups tended to be less-severe following the point-specific acupuncture. As for itchiness, however, both the true and placebo therapies had similar benefits compared with no treatment.

Again, effects that are explained by meridian theory: putting needles anywhere activates the meridian system, but it is most efficient when used in actual acupuncture points.  Why is this so hard for some to understand?  Oh I know, because they refuse to.  Kind of like what Saint Augustine once answered when asked if God is good why are not all men saved?  Augustine answered, “because they do not wish to be saved.”  (my paraphrasing).

People sometimes do not see the evidence because they refuse to see it.
Acupuncture has been used for more than 2,000 years in Chinese medicine to treat a wide variety of ailments. According to traditional medicine, specific acupuncture points on the skin are connected to internal pathways that conduct energy, or qi (“chee”), and stimulating these points with a fine needle promotes the healthy flow of qi.

Modern research has suggested that acupuncture may help ease pain by altering signals among nerve cells or affecting the release of various chemicals of the central nervous system.

Pfab explained that pain and itchiness have similarities in their underlying mechanisms, so acupuncture’s effects on pain mechanisms may also account for the benefits seen in this study.

The researcher pointed out, however, that more research is needed to see whether and why acupuncture might be helpful for people with eczema.

SOURCE: Allergy, online December 11, 2009.

Oh, and Merry Christmas to all! Happy Chanukah!