Effect of Jin-3-Needling Therapy on Plasma Corticosteroid,Adrenocorticotrophic Hormone and Platelet 5-HT Levels in Patients with Generalized Anxiety Disorder

Objective： To observe the therapeutic efficacy of Jin-3-needling therapy （J3N） on generalized anxiety disorder （GAD） through clinical global impression scale （CGI）, and to explore the mechanism by measuring the plasma levels of corticosteroid （CS）, adrenocorticotrophic hormone （ACTH）, and platelet 5-hydroxytryptamine （5-HT） before and after treatment. Methods： Eightysix GAD patients with the diagnosis agreeing with the inclusion criteria were assigned, according to the sequence of visiting time, to three groups. The 29 patients in the Western medicine group were treated mainly with fluoxetine or paroxetine, Alprazolam might be given additionally in severe conditions if necessary; the 29 patients in the needling group received J3N therapy with Sishenzhen, Dingshenzhen, Neiguan （PC6）, Shenmen （HT7） and Sanyinjiao （SP6） as the chief acupoints selected; and the 28 patients in the combined treatment group were treated with both drugs and needling in the same way as applied in the above two groups. The therapeutic course for all was 6 weeks. Conditions of patients were evaluated before and after treatment with CGI, and levels of CS, ACTH as well as 5-HT were measured by high performance liquid chromatography-electrochemistry. Results： By CGI scoring, the scores of severity index and the general index were not different significantly in the three groups, but the efficacy index proved to be the highest in the needling group, the second in the combined trentment group, and the lowest in the drug group. Plasma level of ACTH and platelet content of 5-HT were lowered in all the three groups after treatment, showing statistical significance （P〈0.05）, but no significant change was found in CS level （P〉0.05）. Conclusion： The therapeutic efficacy of J3N in treating GAD is equivalent to, but with the efficacy index significantly higher than, that of conventional treatment. Moreover, when combined with drugs, needling might effectively prevent the side effect of the routinely used Western drugs. The regulatory action of needling on platelet 5-HT and plasma ACTH is probably one of the acting pathways for J3N treatment on GAD.

Effect of JIN's 3-needle technique and motor function trai-ning on upper extremities motor recovery of cerebral apoplexy induced hemiplegia

Objective To observe the clinical effects on upper extremities function recovery of cerebral apoplexy induced hemiplegia by combination of JIN＇s 3-needle technique and motor function trai- ning. Methods Eight-seven cases of cerebral apoplexy induced hemiplegia were randomized into an observation group （44 cases） and a control group （43 cases）. JIN＇s 3-needle technique and motor function training were both adopted for the observation group. Three temporal acupuncture points on the affected side were selected. Three lower arm points, namely Qfichi （曲池 LI 11 ）, Waiguan （外关 TE 5） and Hegu （ 合谷 LI 4） were adopted for flaccid hemiplegia. While 3 upper arm points for relieving spasm, namely Jiquan （极泉HT 1）, Chize （尺泽 LU 5） and Neiguan （内关 PC 6） were chosen for spastic hemiplegia. Motor function training was applied alone for the control group. Treating courses for both groups were 5 weeks. And scores of Brunnstrom and FugI-Meyer assessments of the affected limbs were analyzed. Results Improvement on scores of FugI-Meyer and Brunnstrom assessments were observed for both groups after the treatment（P〈0. 05, P〈0. 01 ）. The post-treatment scores of the observation group was better than that of the control group after the treatment （ P〈0.05, P〈0.01 ）. Conclusion Treat- ment of combination of JIN＇s 3-needle technique with motor function training can obviously improve the motor function of the upper extremities of patients with cerebral apoplexy induced hemiplegia.