Re: Acupuncture shown to relieve migraines: study - Yahoo! News

[Linda Woolf, Ph.D.]

Hi Y'all, When I took a graduate neuroanatomy class at the SLU Med School, we discussed some research concerning acupuncture.  The most memorable was a study by Anderson conducted in Sweden that involved the electrical stimulation of tooth pulp (ouch! who would volunteer for such a study??) and the impact of acupuncture on pain reduction.  There was a significant difference between the acupuncture and control group. Most notable, one half of the acupuncture group was then given a placebo and one half given naloxone. Naloxone is an opiate antagonist. Pain returned to those in the naloxone group.  Thus, our endorphins may play some sort of role in the effectiveness of acupuncture for some types of pain. I don't have the exact reference for the study as it has been a number of years.  Several articles by Anderson are included in a bibliography that I found at http://www.nlm.nih.gov/archive/20040823/pubs/cbm/acupuncture.html.   I'll look through my old files to see if I can find the complete reference. Best, Linda Christopher Lovelace wrote: Actually, there's no way to tell if migraine reduction was due to a  placebo effect. What this does suggest is that the clinical effects  of acupuncture (at least in this case) are likely not related to  modification of the patient's "qi" (chi). The intended effect of  acupuncture is to correct problems with a person's qi, or the "life  force" that penetrates us, surrounds us, and binds the galaxy  together (oh, wait, that's "the force" from Star Wars--well it's  something like that). So, perhaps there's something else about the acupuncture technique  that relieves migraines. Whether it be the needles, the fact you have  lay down and relax for an hour, or a regular placebo effect, remains  to be seen. Cheers, Chris -- Linda M. Woolf, Ph.D. President, Society for the Study of Peace, Conflict, & Violence (Div. 48, APA) Professor of Psychology Coordinator - Holocaust & Genocide Studies, Center for the Study of the Holocaust, Genocide, and Human Rights Webster University 470 East Lockwood St. Louis, MO  63119 Main Webpage:  http://www.webster.edu/~woolflm/   [EMAIL PROTECTED] "Outside of a dog, a book is a man's (and woman's) best friend. . . . Inside a dog, it's too dark to read."                   -             Groucho Marx --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: archive@jab.org To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]