The anti-inflammatory effect of acupuncture and its significance in analgesia

摘要

In the mechanisms of acupuncture analgesia,an important aspect often overlooked is the antiinflammatory effect of acupuncture,which is mainly attained through the self-limiting inflammatory response-inflammatory reflex and its regulation of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal(HPA) axis and autonomic nerve system (the vagus nerve and the sympathetic postganglionic fiber).The significance of antiinflammatory effect of acupuncture in analgesia is manifested twofold:The first,inflammatory nociceptive pain is a major type of chronic pain.The second,neurogenic inflammation is the mechanism by which certain acupoints or acu-reflex points (ARPs) are formed at the body surface and have short-cut connections to the pathological focus.Selecting ARPs and applying appropriate sensory stimulation or local microtrauma (affected by different needling means or stimulation parameters),combined with low-frequency electrical stimulation or the vagus stimulation in the concha region,are helpful to strengthen the anti-inflammatory and analgesic effect of acupuncture.