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The Successful Treatment of Chronic Pain Using Microcurrent Point Stimulation Applied to Battlefield Acupuncture Protocol
... At the systemic level, MCS demonstrates utility in pain management, modulating pain perception through mechanisms like endorphin release and pain signal gating [170,171]. Additionally, it is thought to exhibit antiinflammatory effects [172,173], impacting systemic Fig. 14 A The appearance and weight of the liver. B Changes in serum triglycerides (TG) levels at before and after the experiment [10] inflammation levels and potentially offering benefits for conditions associated with chronic inflammation. ...
Bioelectric medicine (BEM) refers to the use of electrical signals to modulate the electrical activity of cells and tissues in the body for therapeutic purposes. In this review, we particularly focused on the microcurrent stimulation (MCS), because, this can take place at the cellular level with sub-sensory application unlike other stimuli. These extremely low-level currents mimic the body's natural electrical activity and are believed to promote various physiological processes. To date, MCS has limited use in the field of BEM with applications in several therapeutic purposes. However, recent studies provide hopeful signs that MCS is more scalable and widely applicable than what has been used so far. Therefore, this review delves into the landscape of MCS, shedding light on the multifaceted applications and untapped potential of MCS in the realm of healthcare. Particularly, we summarized the hierarchical mediation from cell to whole body responses by MCS including its physiological applications. Our final objective of this review is to contribute to the growing body of literature that unveils the captivating potential of BEM, with MCS poised at the intersection of technological innovation and the intricacies of the human body.
Objectives: Although acupuncture and microcurrent are widely used for chronic pain, there remains considerable controversy as to their therapeutic value for neck pain. We aimed to determine the effect size of microcurrent applied to lower back acupuncture points to assess the impact on the neck pain.
Design: This was a cohort analysis of treatment outcomes pre- and postmicrocurrent stimulation, involving 34 patients with a history of nonspecific chronic neck pain.
Subjects and Settings: Consenting patients were enrolled from a group of therapists attending educational seminars and were asked to report pain levels pre-post and 48 hours after a single MPS application.
Interventions and Measurements: Direct current microcurrent point stimulation (MPS) applied to standardized lower back acupuncture protocol points was used. Evaluations entailed a baseline visual analog scale (VAS) pain scale assessment, using a VAS, which was repeated twice after therapy, once immediately postelectrotherapy and again after a 48-h follow-up period. All 34 patients received a single MPS session. Results were analyzed using paired t tests.
Results and Outcomes: Pain intensity showed an initial statistically significant reduction of 68% [3.9050 points; 95% CI (2.9480, 3.9050); p = 0.0001], in mean neck pain levels after standard protocol treatment, when compared to initial pain levels. There was a further statistically significant reduction of 35% in mean neck pain levels at 48 h when compared to pain levels immediately after standard protocol treatment [0.5588 points; 95% CI (0.2001, 0.9176); p = 0.03], for a total average pain relief of 80%.
Conclusions: The positive results in this study could have applications for those patients impacted by chronic neck pain.
Introduction: This case study offers a detailed comparative analysis of the effects of direct-current electroacupuncture (DC-EA) on the autonomic nervous system (ANS), when DC-EA was applied to the cranial sutures and scars of a patient with a history of ischemic stroke and postconcussion syndrome (PCS) pain.
Case: A 56-year-old female suffering from severe tremors and debilitating headaches requested acupuncture after conventional biomedicines failed to relieve her symptoms. Evaluations were performed to check the status of 27 ANS functions. These detailed evaluations were performed to obtain a baseline status of ANS function on this patient, who had a history of ischemic stroke, PCS, and chronic pain. All evaluations were repeated pre–post her DC-EA treatment.
Results: This patient experienced significant relief from her symptoms after DC-EA treatment. An analysis of this patient's risk for ANS complications showed improvements in four key homeostatic markers post treatment.
Conclusions: The ANS response of a patient with ischemic stroke, PCS, and chronic pain, who received electrical nerve stimulation using DC-EA reflected a measurable improvement in sympathetic tone, along with reductions in pain levels and PCS symptoms. The positive results in this case study could have applications to other pathologies that can be affected by the sympathetic nervous system activation on the body.
Chronic low back pain associated with myofascial trigger point activity has been historically refractory to conventional treatment (Pain Research and Management 7 (2002) 81). In this case series study, an analysis of 22 patients with chronic low back pain, of 8.8 years average duration, is presented. Following treatment with frequency-specific microcurrent, a statistically significant 3.8-fold reduction in pain intensity was observed using a visual analog scale. This outcome was achieved over an average treatment period of 5.6 weeks and a visit frequency of one treatment per week. When pain chronicity exceeded 5 years, there was a trend toward increasing frequency of treatment required to achieve the same magnitude of pain relief.In 90% of these patients, other treatment modalities including drug therapy, chiropractic manipulation, physical therapy, naturopathic treatment and acupuncture had failed to produce equivalent benefits. The microcurrent treatment was the single factor contributing the most consistent difference in patient-reported pain relief.These results support the observation that rigorously designed clinical investigations are warranted.
Acupuncture is a therapeutic technique and part of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). Acupuncture has clinical efficacy on various autonomic nerve-related disorders, such as cardiovascular diseases, epilepsy, anxiety and nervousness, circadian rhythm disorders, polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and subfertility. An increasing number of studies have demonstrated that acupuncture can control autonomic nerve system (ANS) functions including blood pressure, pupil size, skin conductance, skin temperature, muscle sympathetic nerve activities, heart rate and/or pulse rate, and heart rate variability. Emerging evidence indicates that acupuncture treatment not only activates distinct brain regions in different kinds of diseases caused by imbalance between the sympathetic and parasympathetic activities, but also modulates adaptive neurotransmitter in related brain regions to alleviate autonomic response. This review focused on the central mechanism of acupuncture in modulating various autonomic responses, which might provide neurobiological foundations for acupuncture effects.
Universal pain screening with a 0-10 pain intensity numeric rating scale (NRS) has been widely implemented in primary care.
To evaluate the accuracy of the NRS as a screening test to identify primary care patients with clinically important pain.
Prospective diagnostic accuracy study
275 adult clinic patients were enrolled from September 2005 to March 2006.
We operationalized clinically important pain using two alternate definitions: (1) pain that interferes with functioning (Brief Pain Inventory interference scale > or = 5) and (2) pain that motivates a physician visit (patient-reported reason for the visit).
22% of patients reported a pain symptom as the main reason for the visit. The most common pain locations were lower extremity (21%) and back/neck (18%). The area under the receiver operator characteristic curve for the NRS as a test for pain that interferes with functioning was 0.76, indicating fair accuracy. A pain screening NRS score of 1 was 69% sensitive (95% CI 60-78) for pain that interferes with functioning. Multilevel likelihood ratios for scores of 0, 1-3, 4-6, and 7-10 were 0.39 (0.29-0.53), 0.99 (0.38-2.60), 2.67 (1.56-4.57), and 5.60 (3.06-10.26), respectively. Results were similar when NRS scores were evaluated against the alternate definition of clinically important pain (pain that motivates a physician visit).
The most commonly used measure for pain screening may have only modest accuracy for identifying patients with clinically important pain in primary care. Further research is needed to evaluate whether pain screening improves patient outcomes in primary care.
Introduction: This is a detailed comparative analysis of the effects of direct-current (DC) microcurrent point stimulation (MPS) on the autonomic nervous system, when applied in the Battlefield Acupuncture (BFA) protocol for 8 patients with histories of pain. Methods: Evaluations entailed a standard baseline visual analogue scale (VAS) for pain, saliva cortisol, and a baseline status of 27 autonomic nervous system (ANS) functions, for a total of 29 markers, all repeated prior to and following electrotherapy on this cohort of patients. Results: The ANS response to microcurrent point electrical nerve stimulation reflected a statistically significant pre-post improvement in 8 of the 29 markers collected: (1) pain on the VAS scale was reduced by 63% (2.0625 points; 95% CI [confidence interval]: 1.2745-2.8505; P = 0.0001); (2) heart rate variability improved by 42% (662.375 points; 95% CI: -1273.675 to -51.075; P = 0.037); (3) high frequency-vagal tone improved by 56% (231.25 points; 95% CI: -430.42 to -31.58); P = 0.029); (4) exercise tolerance increased by 22% (9.500 points; 95% CI: -16.747 to -2.253; P = 0.017); (5) parasympathetic activity improved by 38% (14.000 points; 95% CI: -23.202 to -4.798; P = 0.009); (6) stress was reduced by 27% (39.125 points; 95% CI: 1.945-76,305); P = 0.042); (7) the PTGi [photoplethysmography index] cardiac marker of endothelial function, arterial blood flow, and ANS regulation improved by 48% (21.5125 points; 95% CI: -35.441754 to 7.5832461; P = 0.008); (8) cardiac marker PTGVLFi [Photoplethysmography very low frequency index] - an ANS regulation marker of endothelial function and an indicator of ß-cell activity had a statistically significant reduction of 36% (9.250 points; 95% CI: 1.062-17.438; P = 0.032). Salivary cortisol decreased by 14% (0.08286 points; 95% CI: -0.1182 to 0.28384; P = 0.352). Conclusions: The positive and impressive results in this study showed significant improvement in several parameters of ANS function and reduction in pain and cortisol levels. If replicated, this study paves the way for use of DC MPS applied to the BFA protocol for other pathologies that are known to be affected by sympathetic nervous system activation.
Background:
Increases in illicit pharmaceutical opioid (PO) use have been associated with risk for transition to heroin use. We identify predictors of transition to heroin use among young, illicit PO users with no history of opioid dependence or heroin use at baseline.
Methods:
Respondent-driven sampling recruited 383 participants; 362 returned for at least one biannual structured interview over 36 months. Cox regression was used to test for associations between lagged predictors and hazard of transition to heroin use. Potential predictors were based on those suggested in the literature. We also computed population attributable risk (PAR) and the rate of heroin transition.
Results:
Over 36 months, 27 (7.5%) participants initiated heroin use; all were white, and the rate of heroin initiation was 2.8% per year (95% CI=1.9%-4.1%). Mean length of PO at first reported heroin use was 6.2 years (SD=1.9). Lifetime PO dependence (AHR=2.39, 95% CI=1.07-5.48; PAR=32%, 95% CI=-2% to 64%), early age of PO initiation (AHR=3.08, 95%; CI=1.26-7.47; PAR=30%, 95% CI=2%-59%), using illicit POs to get high but not to self-medicate a health problem (AHR=4.83, 95% CI=2.11-11.0; PAR=38%, 95% CI=12%-65%), and ever using PO non-orally most often (AHR=6.57, 95% CI=2.81-17.2; PAR=63%, 95% CI=31%-86%) were significant predictors.
Conclusion:
This is one of the first prospective studies to test observations from previous cross-sectional and retrospective research on the relationship between illicit PO use and heroin initiation among young, initially non-opioid dependent PO users. The results provide insights into targets for the design of urgently needed prevention interventions.
To study the effectiveness of electroacupuncture of the spinal nerve root using a selective spinal nerve block technique for the treatment of lumbar and lower limb symptoms in patients with lumbar spinal canal stenosis.
Subjects were 17 patients with spinal canal stenosis who did not respond to 2 months of general conservative treatment and conventional acupuncture. Under x-ray fluoroscopy, two acupuncture needles were inserted as close as possible to the relevant nerve root, as determined by subjective symptoms and x-ray and MRI findings, and low-frequency electroacupuncture stimulation was performed (10 Hz, 10 min). Patients received 3-5 once-weekly treatments, and were evaluated immediately before and after each treatment and 3 months after completion of treatment.
After the first nerve root electroacupuncture stimulation, scores for lumbar and lower limb symptoms improved significantly (low back pain, p<0.05; lower limb pain, p<0.05; lower limb dysaesthesia, p<0.01) with some improvement in continuous walking distance. Symptom scores and continuous walking distance showed further improvement before the final treatment (p<0.01), and a significant sustained improvement was observed 3 months after completion of treatment (p<0.01).
Lumbar and lower limb symptoms, for which conventional acupuncture and general conservative treatment had been ineffective, improved significantly during a course of electroacupuncture to the spinal nerve root, showing sustained improvement even 3 months after completion of treatment. The mechanisms of these effects may involve activation of the pain inhibition system and improvement of nerve blood flow.
Thirty patients with cervical spine pain syndromes persisting a mean of 8 years were assigned randomly into equal treatment and control groups. After 12 weeks, 12 of 15 (80%) of the treated group felt improved, some dramatically, with a mean 40% reduction of pain score, 54% reduction of pain pills, 68% reduction of pain hours per day and 32% less limitation of activity. Two of 15 (13%) of the control group reported slight improvement after 12.8 weeks. The control group had a mean 2% worsening of the pain score, 10% reduction in pain pills, no lessening of pain hours and 12% less limitation of activity.
Direct electric currents ranging from 10 microA to 1000 microA increase ATP concentrations in the tissue and stimulate amino acid incorporation into the proteins of rat skin. The amino acid transport through the cell membrane, followed by the alpha-aminoisobutyric acid uptake, is stimulated between 100 microA and 750 microA. The stimulatory effects on ATP production and on amino acid transport, apparently mediated by different mechanisms, contribute to the final increased protein synthesizing activity. DNA metabolism followed by thymidine incorporation remains unaffected during the course of current application. The effects on AtP production can be explained by proton movements on the basis of the chemiosmotic theory of Mitchell, while the transport functions are controlled by modification in the electrical gradients across the membranes.
This study examined the effects of increasing the number of assessments on the reliability and validity of measures of average pain intensity. Two hundred chronic pain patients completed 2 weeks of hourly pain ratings. A series of regression analyses were performed, and test-retest stability, internal consistency and validity coefficients were computed to address 4 questions. (1) Are chronic pain patients' reports of pain similar from one day to another? (2) What is the reliability and validity of a single rating of pain intensity when used as an indicant of average pain? (3) How many assessments (data points) are required to obtain estimates of average pain intensity with adequate to excellent psychometric properties? (4) How important is it to sample pain from different days? The results were consistent with predictions based on patients' self-reports of their pain and on psychometric theory. First, the majority of patients did not report similar levels of pain from one day to another, and average pain scores calculated from ratings obtained from a single day were less stable than those calculated from ratings obtained from multiple days. Also, and as expected, the results indicate that a single rating of pain intensity is not adequately reliable or valid as a measure of average pain. However, a composite pain intensity score calculated from an average of 12 ratings across 4 days demonstrated adequate reliability and excellent validity as a measure of the average pain in this sample of chronic pain patients.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
To evaluate the effectiveness of acupuncture, as compared with physiotherapy, in the management of chronic neck pain.
Seventy adult patients with non-inflammatory neck pain of >6 weeks duration and with no abnormal neurology were randomly assigned to receive either of the treatments. Thirty-five patients were included in each group.
Pain by visual analogue scale and neck pain questionnaire, improvement in range of movement of neck relative to baseline, and well-being (general health questionnaire). Measurements were recorded at the start of treatment, at 6 weeks and at 6 months.
Both treatment groups improved in all criteria. Acupuncture was slightly more effective in patients who had higher baseline pain scores.
Both acupuncture and physiotherapy are effective forms of treatment. Since an untreated control group was not part of the study design, the magnitude of this improvement cannot be quantified.
This review aims to explore the research available relating to three commonly used pain rating scales, the Visual Analogue Scale, the Verbal Rating Scale and the Numerical Rating Scale. The review provides information needed to understand the main properties of the scales.
Data generated from pain-rating scales can be easily misunderstood. This review can help clinicians to understand the main features of these tools and thus use them effectively.
A MedLine review via PubMed was carried out with no restriction of age of papers retrieved. Papers were examined for methodological soundness before being included. The search terms initially included pain rating scales, pain measurement, Visual Analogue Scale, VAS, Verbal Rating Scale, VRS, Numerical/numeric Rating Scale, NRS. The reference lists of retrieved articles were used to generate more papers and search terms. Only English Language papers were examined.
All three pain-rating scales are valid, reliable and appropriate for use in clinical practice, although the Visual Analogue Scale has more practical difficulties than the Verbal Rating Scale or the Numerical Rating Scale. For general purposes the Numerical Rating Scale has good sensitivity and generates data that can be statistically analysed for audit purposes. Patients who seek a sensitive pain-rating scale would probably choose this one. For simplicity patients prefer the Verbal Rating Scale, but it lacks sensitivity and the data it produces can be misunderstood.
In order to use pain-rating scales well clinicians need to appreciate the potential for error within the tools, and the potential they have to provide the required information. Interpretation of the data from a pain-rating scale is not as straightforward as it might first appear.
Acupuncture in the U.S Armed Forces: A Brief History and Review of Current Educational Approaches
Acupuncture in the U.S Armed Forces: A Brief History and
Review of Current Educational Approaches. Bryce R. Pock
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Detailed Heart Rate Variability, Exercise Tolerance, Cortical and Vas Pain Scale Analysis of Two Forms of Electro-Therapy Applied To A Patient with Chronic Back Neuropathic Pain
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Measures of Adult Pain Visual Analog Scale for Pain (VAS Pain
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Measures of Adult Pain Visual Analog Scale for Pain (VAS
Pain), Numeric Rating Scale for Pain (NRS Pain), McGill Pain
Questionnaire (MPQ), Short-Form McGill Pain Questionnaire
(SF-MPQ), Chronic Pain Grade Scale (CPGS), Short Form-36
Bodily Pain Scale (SF-36 BPS), and Measure of Intermittent and Constant Osteoarthritis Pain (ICOAP)
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Electroacupuncture analgesia could be mediated by at least two pain-relieving mechanisms: endorphin and non-endorphin systems
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