Observation of Pain-Sensitive Points along the Meridians in Patients with Gastric Ulcer or Gastritis

Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, Nov 2012

This study aims to investigate the sensitization of human skin points along certain meridians related to visceral disease by using the pressure-pain threshold (PPT) as an indicator. We detected and compared the PPTs of people with and without gastric ulcer or gastritis on the related acupoints, abdomen area, and back area with von Frey detector and observed the similarities and differences under their respective physiological and pathological states. The results showed that (1) the PPTs of patients with gastric ulcer on related acupoints decreased significantly compared with the control group; (2) there was no significant difference in PPT between the chosen points of the measured meridian and the adjacent nonacupoints; (3) there was an apparent distribution of tender points on the relevant abdomen and back regions of patients with gastric ulcer or gastritis, but none was found on the control group; (4) the pain-sensitive points of gastric ulcer and gastritis patients were BURONG (ST19), LIANGMEN (ST21), and HUAROUMEN (ST24) of the stomach meridian on the abdominal region and PISHU (BL20), WEISHU (BL21), and WEICANG (BL50) on the back, among others The results suggest that the practical significance of acupoints may lie in its role as a relatively sensitive functional area. In a pathological state, the reflex points on the skin which are related to certain visceral organs become sensitive and functionally intensify.

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Observation of Pain-Sensitive Points along the Meridians in Patients with Gastric Ulcer or Gastritis

Observation of Pain-Sensitive Points along the Meridians in Patients with Gastric Ulcer or Gastritis Hui Ben,1 Liang Li,1 Pei-Jing Rong,1 Zhi-Gao Jin,2 Jian-Liang Zhang,1 Yan-Hua Li,1 and Xia Li3 1Institute of Acupuncture and Moxibustion, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing 100700, China 2Beijing Coal General Hospital, Beijing 100028, China 3Beijing University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Beijing 100029, China Received 20 August 2012; Accepted 14 October 2012 Academic Editor: Wolfgang Schwarz Copyright © 2012 Hui Ben et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Abstract This study aims to investigate the sensitization of human skin points along certain meridians related to visceral disease by using the pressure-pain threshold (PPT) as an indicator. We detected and compared the PPTs of people with and without gastric ulcer or gastritis on the related acupoints, abdomen area, and back area with von Frey detector and observed the similarities and differences under their respective physiological and pathological states. The results showed that (1) the PPTs of patients with gastric ulcer on related acupoints decreased significantly compared with the control group; (2) there was no significant difference in PPT between the chosen points of the measured meridian and the adjacent nonacupoints; (3) there was an apparent distribution of tender points on the relevant abdomen and back regions of patients with gastric ulcer or gastritis, but none was found on the control group; (4) the pain-sensitive points of gastric ulcer and gastritis patients were BURONG (ST19), LIANGMEN (ST21), and HUAROUMEN (ST24) of the stomach meridian on the abdominal region and PISHU (BL20), WEISHU (BL21), and WEICANG (BL50) on the back, among others The results suggest that the practical significance of acupoints may lie in its role as a relatively sensitive functional area. In a pathological state, the reflex points on the skin which are related to certain visceral organs become sensitive and functionally intensify. 1. Introduction The pressure-pain threshold (PPT) of skin is the minimum force applied on the skin by external pressure which induces pain. It is one of the traditional measures to quantitatively evaluate pain that has been widely used in basic as well as clinic studies. In most cases, reporting of perceived pain by the subjects is usually influenced by factors like the expectancy, and pressure algometry however provides objective information of the local pain conditions. According to the theory of meridians in traditional Chinese medicine, there are connections between the internal organs and their respective somatic meridians. Therefore, visceral lesions can lead to changes of pain sensation, which exhibited as tenderness point(s), or pigmentations and so forth in certain areas of the body surface. And similarly, the stimulation of acupoints can result in the regulation of function of the responding internal organs. Previous studies have shown that the sensitive points on the body surface accompanied with some visceral disorders including the digestive diseases which are characterized with abdominal pain and tenderness as the common sign and symptom. In this study, by the help of von Frey detector, we measured the PPT of acupoints along meridians of subjects with gastric ulcer or gastritis to assess their sensitization under the pathological conditions. 2. Materials and Methods2.1. Detection of Pressure-Pain Threshold2.1.1. Detection Equipment The 2390-type von Frey detector produced by the IITC Company of the United States was used to detect the PPTs of acupoints along the related meridians so as to compare the similarities and differences between the results acquired in normal and pathological states. 2.1.2. Detection of Acupoints Tested acupoints (1) Stomach Meridian: ZUSANLI (ST36), SHANGJUXU (ST37), XIAJUXU (ST39); (2) Large Intestine Meridian: SHOUWULI (LI13), QUCHI (LI11), SHOUSANLI (LI10), HEGU (LI4); (3) back acupoints: WEISHU (BL21), DACHANGSHU (BL25); (4) points which are 1.0–1.5 cm adjacent to the above acupoints were selected as the control acupoints; (5) the abdominal and back acupoints. 2.1.3. Methods The probe tip was kept moving vertically downward toward the skin at an even speed. When the subject felt the pain, the probe was removed immediately and the data on the detector were recorded simultaneously. Each point was tested three times at an interval of three minutes. The average of the data was taken as the threshold. 2.2. Partition of the Testing Zones on the Abdomen and Back The abdominal and back regions of the subject were divided into 16 testing areas, respectively (Figure 1). In each testing area three points were tested, and each point had a certain distance to the other two points. Figure 1: Ab (...truncated)


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Hui Ben, Liang Li, Pei-Jing Rong, Zhi-Gao Jin, Jian-Liang Zhang, Yan-Hua Li, Xia Li. Observation of Pain-Sensitive Points along the Meridians in Patients with Gastric Ulcer or Gastritis, Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, 2012, 2012, DOI: 10.1155/2012/130802