REINFORCING AND REDUCING METHODS OF ACUPUNCTURE TREATMENT

Situ Ling, Liang Chujing, Lin Minghua, Ming Shunpe!

(Guangzhou College of TCM, Guangzhou)

Some cases treated with acupuncture in emergency clinic had been observed from October 1981 to August 1982. A therapeutic principle of reinforcing for the asthenia-syndrome and reducing for sthenia-syndrome was established according to the differentiation of syndromes and selection of acupoints along the meridians. The reinforcing and reducing methods based on the principle of treatment recorded in "Canon of Medicine" and "The Classics of Difficulty It stated, 'Inserting the needle to a certain depth till sensation is felt as reinforcing, and rotating and lifting the needle as reducing/ 'Inserting the needle against the meridian pathway to get out pathogenic factors as reducing, while inserting the needle along the meridian pathway to supply nutrition as reinforcing.' 'Insert the needle slowly and withdraw it rapidly as reducing for the sthenic syndrome; and insert the needle rapidly and withdraw it slowly as reinforcing for the asthenia-syndrome. In acupuncture treatment, the needle should be withdrawn when the clinical symptoms and signs disappear and the abnormal pulse becomes normal.

111 cases, including stomachache, abdominal pain due to disorder of gallbladder and intestine, urticaria, palpitation, stranguria, acute lumbar sprain, fever caused by exogenous pathogenic factors, asthma, headache and dysmenorrhea, etc. were chosen to be treated with acupuncture in the emergency clinic. Among them, the oldest was 70 years of age, the youngest was 9: 59 were female and 52 male. They were grouped to three types, i.e., sthenia-syndrome group treated with reducing method, asthenia-syndrome group treated with reinforcing method, and the moxed group treated with both methods.

Result of Treatment:

Criteria for therapeutic efficacy was assessed according to the immediate result and follow-up observation. 1. Excellent: disappearance of clinical symptoms and signs with no recurrence after needling. No other treatment was necessary in the same day or night. 2. Good: obvious alleviation of symptoms and signs, but with mild uneasiness. 3. effective: improvement of symptoms and signs, but combined with other treatment after needling. 4. ineffective :no improvement,

Of the 111 cases observed, 106 were graded as excellent, 35 good, 17 effective, 5 ineffective. The effective rate was 95%, the excellent and good cases amounting 80%,

In the treatment of acupuncture and moxibustion, the principle of diagnosis and treatment based on an overall analysis of symptoms and signs should be emphasized. The application of acupuncture or moxibustion, reducing method or reinforcing method should be determined according to different conditions of the patients. It is considered to be effective-when the clinical symptoms and signs disappear and abnormal pulse turns to normal, and the acupuncture feeling is elicited, which is of great importance in improving the curative effect of acupuncture and moxibustion.

Experimental Study:

In August 1982, a Brs-14 type sphymograph was used to observe the change of pulsilogram before and after needling. 12 cases, 6 male and 6 female, aging from 23 to 58, were examined. Obvious change of the pulsilogram was observed, which was in accordance with the improvement of the symptoms and signs after acupuncture treatment. For instance, a patient suffering from urticaria was acupunctured with reducing method, after half an hour of treatment, floating-full rapid-solid pulse become normal, the eruptions disappeared and itching stopped, and the abnormal pulsilogram also showed remarkable improvement. Another patient with coronary heart disease was acupunctured with reinforcing method for 15 minutes. His preexisting extrasystole disappeared and pulse condition became normal. It has been proved that the sphymograph is good for examining the effect of treatment by applying reinforcing and reducing methods in acupuncture therapy.