Description Acupuncture treatment The meridian points used generally for low back pain, such as 'Shenyu', 'Zhishi', 'Dachangyu', 'Dianya', 'Yinmen', 'Weizhong', 'Chengjin', 'Yanglingquan' were mainly employed as sites of acupuncture therapy.
Experimental Description
30 outpatients with low back pain (myofacial lumbago, osteoarthritis of spine, disk herniation etc.) who visited the Pain Clinic, Department of Anesthesiology, Osaka Medical College and whose pain condition exceeded 3 months were entered in the study. This group consisted of 10 males and 20 females, and their mean age was 50 years. DPA and placebo were administered to all the subjects, acupuncture treatment was made subsequently and the effects directly after the treatment of the two were compared.DPA was deer mark powder, 4.0g, a class pure product, and the placebo was lactose powder,4.0g. The subjects received them 30 minutes before acupuncture therapy.
Sample Count
30
Age
mean age was 50
Control
Placebo
placebo+AA(n=30)
Experiment
DPA+AA(n=30)
Indicator
Numeric rating scale(NRS)
Auxiliary Medication
DPA was deer mark powder, 4.0g.
Stimulation Method
EA
Induction Method
Electroacupuncture Instrument Model
Manufacturer
Frequency
Waveform
Strength
Induction Time
LAUS-Trimix-1 unit
Nihon Medix
3 Hz
two-direction exponential wave
6 V;17 mA
15 min
Acupuncture_Needle
Needle_Manufacturer
Needle_Depth
30×0.2 mm;40×0.2 mm
Serin Kasei
10 mm
Description The needle was inserted about 10mm into the skin and left there. Next, low frequency electricity was applied (low freguency acupuncture therapy) though a clip attached to the needle. The low frequency therapy apparatus used was an LAUS-Trimix-1 unit (Nihon Medix phonetic)). Two-direction exponential waves (pulse width 0.15ms) were applied for 15 minutes with continuous application of 3 Herz. The output was limited to the extent that subjects could bear. The mean voltage was about 6 Vp-p (peak to peak 6V) and electric current was about 17 mAp-p (peak to peak 17mAp).
Clinical Trial Type
randomly
Effector
In the "placebo + AA" group the results were excellent in 7 (23%) and poor in 13 (43%) among 30 patients. In contrast, with the "DPA + acupuncture therapy" group those who showed corresponding results were (23%), 11 (37%), 6 (20%) and 6(20%), respectively, among 30 patients. Thus, excellent cases were increased 16%, good ones 10% and poor ones were decreased 23% by administration of DPA. When "excellent and good" cases in the 2 groups were compared, the effect of acupuncture therapy was increased 26% in the DPA administration group. However, this was not statistically significant (P<0.1).
Studies on the enhanced effect of acupuncture analgesia and acupuncture anesthesia by D-phenylalanine (2nd report)--schedule of administration and clinical effects in low back pain and tooth extraction.
Abstract
D-phenylalanine (DPA) is known to block the activity of carboxypeptidase, an enzyme which degrades enkephalins, endogenous morphine-like substances. Therefore, it is considered that DPA administered as an inhibiting drug of this degrading enzyme might prolong analgesia induced by acupuncture. 1) Thirty patients suffering from chronic low back pain were treated with acupuncture 30 minutes after the oral administration of 4.0 grams of DPA. The results were: excellent in 7 cases, good in 11, fair in 6 and poor in 6. Cases graded excellent and good were then compared with a placebo group. The effect was increased 26% in the DPA-acupuncture group, which shows no statistically significant difference (P less than 0.1). 2) In 56 patients, tooth extraction was performed under acupuncture anesthesia: 18 had received 4.0 gram of DPA (P.O.) 30 minutes earlier. The results were excellent in 8, good in 6, fair in 3, and poor in 1. The excellent and good cases were compared with 38 placebo group cases. The effect in the DPA-acupuncture anesthesia group was significantly increased by 35% (P less than 0.01). 3) In order to determine the optimum time for the administration of DPA, two schedules of administration were compared. [1] DPA was given on the previous day in three 0.5 gram doses (26 cases). [2] A single 4 gram dose was administered 30 minutes before treatment (30 cases). The results from the ""excellent"", ""good"" and ""fair"" cases showed a 16% increase in effectiveness when DPA was administered the day before, not a statistically significant difference (P less than 0.1), but a clear tendency to increase was observed. The above findings show that DPA has an enhancing effect on acupuncture analgesia and anesthesia in clinical practice."
