Acupuncture and BrainThe blood-brain barrier is the body’s own structure for self-protection, preventing all non-liposoluble chemical drugs from passing through. But this protective barrier also causes some difficulty in the treatment of brain disorders, since non-liposoluble drugs cannot directly enter the brain tissue to deliver a therapeutic effect. Acupuncture effectively bypassed this problem. After needling some specific points of the body surface, called acupoints, the stimulation is afferent from peripheral nerves to the spinal cord, traveling up then finally reaching the cerebral cortex. And because acupuncture has no side effect such as chemical toxicity or addiction, it offers superiority in treating many brain disorders.
In conventional medicine, there are few effective methods for treating certain cerebral diseases such as infantile atelencephalia, pseudo bulbar paralysis, and seizure attack. Acupuncture can significantly relieve and improve some symptoms in these difficult cases. Experimental research indicates the after cerebral infarction acupuncture has an obvious effect in increasing the blood oxygen supply and brain blood flow in the surviving brain tissue, and increase the lateral circulation function so that surviving brain tissue have more compensatory ability. The other mechanisms of acupuncture in treating post-stroke hemiplegia include dilating vessels, improving vascular viscosity, and enhancing the sensory and motor function of the extremities.
Acupuncture, and especially electro-acupuncture, has been conformed to have anti-convulsive effect. Acupuncture has an instant influential effect on brain waves, normalizing brain waves in EEG reading and minimizing or seizing epileptic electricity during an episode. It can therefore treat seizure attacks by controlling the symptoms and extending the attack intervals.
Recent research has discovered that acupuncture could activate the reticular structure and cerebral cortex functions and regulate and harmonize their interrelationships. It can keep the cerebral cortex in a waking state and decrease over-activation. In this way, acupuncture an effectively address different psychological problems.
Acupuncture has obvious effects n the improvement of the cerebral cortex and certain nerve center functions, resulting in significant therapeutic effect in treating some psychosomatic diseases. For example, during acupuncture treatments for hypertension, it was found that vascular peripheral resistance decreased and brain blood flow improved. These therapeutic effects for maintaining normal blood pressure are most likely related to acupuncture causing the endogenous morphine-like substance to release and inhibit the neuron activity in the ventral lateral bulbar area.
(Traditional Chinese Medicine World, Fall Volume, p. 9, 1999)
Scalp AcupunctureScalp acupuncture is a modern acupuncture method. The Chinese attribute its development to Chiao Sun-Fa, a 35-year-old physician in North China, and it has been used in China since 1971. The principle of scalp acupuncture is very straightforward; the aim is to stimulate the diseased area of the brain in order to facilitate a return of function in that area.
This method is based on elementary functional neuroanatomy. If part of the brain is damaged, for instance by a stroke, then the scalp is stimulated over the damaged area of the brain. All the scalp points are representations of the underlying functional areas of the brain. It therefore follows that the most common use of scalp acupuncture will be in diseases in which there is brain damage, such as strokes or severe head injuries, although this method can be used for a variety of other conditions. Scalp acupuncture is particularly useful for reducing chronic muscle spasm.
Common Locations of Scalp Acupuncture
Motor area
Motor disturbance of the appropriate area.
Sensory area
Sensory disturbances of the appropriate area, pain and vertigo.
Foot motor-sensory area
Motor and sensory disturbances of the lower limbs and genito-urinary system
Chorea-tremor area
Parkinson's disease and tremor and chorea from any cause.
Vasomotor area
Cerebral oedema and hypertension.
Vertigo-auditory area
Tinnitus, vertigo and deafness.
1st Speech or usage area
Parietal lobe lesions.
2nd Speech area
Nominal aphasia.
3rd Speech area
Sensory aphasia.