Estudos, Comentários e Tradução livre
de textos clássicos de Medicina Chinesa
Investigação pelo mundo da Acupunctura
Embora muito se tenha investigado antes, foi sobretudo apartir do final dos anos 90, que muitas hipóteses teorizadas nos clássicos de MC foram pesquisadas e editadas através dos vários campos da ciência e que lançaram uma nova luz acerca da investigação dos canais ou da acupunctura. Claro que grande parte dela não chegou aos meios de comunicação, nem lhes foi relatada devida importãncia fora dos meios ditos da 'medicina alternativa'. Aqui mencionaremos alguns exemplos que confirmam certas visões antigas e lançam novas ideias acerca da acupunctura, dos canais e de como tudo funciona e se interliga e que esperemos depositem mais sementes necessárias ao avanço deste tipo de investigação.
Artigos em inglês e ainda em construção....
Coherent Energy, Liquid Crystallinity and Acupuncture
Dr. Mae-Wan Ho
Talk presented to British Acupuncture Society, 2 October, 1999
A medical physicist in the United States, Cho Zang-Hee, who pioneered the proton emission tomography (pet) scanner, had his curiosity aroused 6 years ago, when he injured his back and found almost instant relief with acupuncture treatment. So he started carrying out experiments with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fmri) on the usual human guinea-pigs - volunteer medical students. He flashed a light in front of them and, as expected, the visual cortex of the brain lit up on the fmri. Then, Cho had an acupuncturist stick a needle into one of the acupoints at the side of the little toe, which are supposed to be connected with the eye. In one person after another, the visual cortex lit up, just as if they had been stimulated with a flash of light. Inserting the needle into a non-acupoint in the big toe had no effect.
Biomechanical response to acupuncture needling in humans
Helene M. Langevin, David L. Churchill, James R. Fox, Gary J. Badger, Brian S.,Garra and Martin H. Krag
J Appl Physiol 91:2471-2478, 2001.
During acupuncture treatments, acupuncture needles are manipulated to elicit the characteristic “de qi” reaction widely viewed as essential to acupuncture’s therapeutic effect. De qi has a biomechanical component, “needle grasp,” which we have quantified by measuring the force necessary to pull an acupuncture needle out of the skin (pullout force) in 60 human subjects. We hypothesized that pullout force is greater with both bidirectional needle rotation (BI) and unidirectional rotation (UNI) than no rotation (NO).
Relationship of Acupuncture Points and Meridians to Connective Tissue Planes
Helene M. Langevin and Jason A. Yandow
The Anatomical R. (NEW ANAT.) 269:257–265, 2002
Acupuncture meridians traditionally are believed to constitute channels connecting the surface of the body to internal organs. We hypothesize that the network of acupuncture points and meridians can be viewed as a representation of the network formed by interstitial connective tissue. This hypothesis is supported by ultrasound images showing connective tissue cleavage planes at acupuncture points in normal human subjects. To test this hypothesis, we mapped acupuncture points in serial gross anatomical sections through the human arm. We found an 80% correspondence between the sites of acupuncture points and the location of intermuscular or intramuscular connective tissue planes in postmortem tissue sections. We propose that the anatomical relationship of acupuncture points and meridians to connective tissue planes is relevant to acupuncture’s mechanism of action and suggests a potentially important integrative role for interstitial connective tissue.
Evidence of connective tissue involvement in acupuncture
Helen M. Langevin, David L. Churchill, Junru Wu, Gary J. Badger, Jason A. Yandow, James R. Fox, and Martin H. Krag
The FASEB Journal, 874 Vol. 16 June 2002
Acupuncture needle manipulation gives rise to ‘needle grasp’, a biomechanical phenomenon characterized by an increase in the force necessary to pull the needle out of the tissue (pullout force). This study investigates the hypothesis that winding of connective tissue rather than contraction of muscle is the mechanism responsible for needle grasp.
Mechanical signaling through connective tissue: a mechanism for the therapeutic effect of acupuncture
Helen M. Langevin, David L. Churchill, and Marilyn J. Cipolla
The FASEB Journal, 2282 Vol. 15 October 2001
The reaction to acupuncture needling known as ‘de qi’, widely viewed as essential to the therapeutic effect of acupuncture, may be a key to understanding its mechanism of action. De qi includes a characteristic needling sensation, perceived by the patient, and ‘needle grasp’ perceived by the acupuncturist. During needle grasp, the acupuncturist feels pulling and increased resistance to further movement of the inserted needle. We hypothesize that 1) needle grasp is due to mechanical coupling between the needle and connective tissue with winding of tissue around the needle during needle rotation and 2) needle manipulation transmits a mechanical signal to connec- tive tissue cells via mechanotransduction. Such a mechanism may explain local and remote, as well as long- term effects of acupuncture.
