Integrated Acupuncture Heath Services

TFL/ greater trochanter Inflammation/dysfunction

Hypothalamus and amygdala response to acupuncture stimuli in carpal tunnel syndrome Pain, 130(3):254-266. Napadow, V., Kettner, N., Liu, J., Li, M., Kwong, K. K., Vangel, M., Makris, N., Audette, J., and Hui, K. K. (2007). Brain processing of acupuncture stimuli in chronic neuropathic pain patients may underlie its beneficial effects. We used fMRI to evaluate verum and sham acupuncture stimulation at acupoint LI-4 in Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS) patients and healthy controls... (HC). CTS patients were retested after 5 weeks of acupuncture therapy. Thus, we investigated both the short-term brain response to acupuncture stimulation, as well as the influence of longer-term acupuncture therapy effects on this short-term response. CTS patients responded to verum acupuncture with greater activation in the hypothalamus and deactivation in the amygdala as compared to HC, controlling for the non-specific effects of sham acupuncture. A similar difference was found between CTS patients at baseline and after acupuncture therapy. For baseline CTS patients responding to verum acupuncture, functional connectivity was found between the hypothalamus and amygdalathe less deactivation in the amygdala, the greater the activation in the hypothalamus, and vice versa. Furthermore, hypothalamic response correlated positively with the degree of maladaptive cortical plasticity in CTS patients (inter-digit separation distance). This is the first evidence suggesting that chronic pain patients respond to acupuncture differently than HC, through a coordinated limbic network including the hypothalamus and amygdala. See more

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MRI Reveals Acupuncture Modulates Brain Activity 07 APRIL 2015 MRI studies reveal the neurological mechanisms of acupuncture on human health. Research published in Autonomic Neuroscience demonstrates that stimulation of specific acupuncture points induces hemodynamic changes in specific brain networks. The researchers add that brain networks accessed by specific acupuncture points relate to specific medical disorders and suggest an acupoint-brain-organ pathway. A woman is ...Continue reading