I seem to have taken quite a hiatus from blogging due to travel. It was an unintended break, but I regret the lapse all same.
The second part of the Austrian study
(Transcontinental and Translational High-tech Acupuncture Research Using Computer-based Heart Rate and “Fire of Life” Heart Rate Variability Analysis by Gerard Litscher published in Journal of Acupuncture Meridian Studies )looks at blue laser and the effect of blue laser on Neiguan, a very commonly used acupuncture point for heart issues and angina pectoris, and nausea from all causes. They compared subjects (healthy volunteers) using real laser and then an inactive laser wand so the subjects could not tell the difference. The heart rate decreased in subjects when the real laser was used, but not inactive laser. Heart rate variability, HRV, was not affected with either type of stimulation.
It would be a fortuitous advance for acupuncture research if we could find a laser that had the same potency as needles themselves because of this ability to "blind" the patients to actual versus sham laser. It appears that the blue laser has some qualities of needles, but is not identical since needling Neiguan does affect HRV.1
1.Chin J Physiol. 2008 Jun 30;51(3):167-77.Links
Effects of acupuncture at Neiguan (PC 6) of the pericardial meridian on blood pressure and heart rate variability.
Chang S, Chao WL, Chiang MJ, Li SJ, Lu YT, Ma CM, Cheng HY, Hsieh SH.
Department of Electrical Engineering, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu, Taiwan, ROC. shyang@ee.nthu.edu.tw
(To read more about acupuncture and my practice, please click here.)
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