Tag: Longhurst
Evidence-based blood pressure reducing actions of electroacupuncture: mechanisms and clinical application.
This is a summary of the research done by the Longhurst group at UCIrvine. Their studies show that for patients with mild to moderate hypertension, weekly treatment with low frequency low intensity acupuncture will decrease systolic, and to lesser extent, diastolic blood pressure by at least 6mm Hg. Monthly treatment is needed to keep the…
Read MoreAcupuncture and Hypertension: Cochrane Review
In this review, they conclude that given the current studies, there were none of sufficient scope and power to show clinical benefit of verum (real) acupuncture over sham. This is pretty much the state of the majority of acupuncture research. Since there is little money for it here in the U.S., we hope that there…
Read MoreAcupuncture, HRV and High Blood Pressure (Jo.Ma)
As part of my ongoing research on stress response and acupuncture treatment, today’s post features data from a patient seeking treatment for hypertension, and also knee stiffness after bilateral knee replacements. I’m featuring his Heart Rate Variability (HRV) data ( a measure of his stress response) complexity data combined with the parasympathetic activity because it…
Read MoreBrain Physiology Behind Electroacupuncture’s Modulating Effect on Blood Pressure
Nice. This article appears in Nature, quite a coup. There is a lot about this paper that surprises me. Perhaps I’m just not familiar enough with this type of experimental set up, and haven’t been aware of these studies. What they found was that naloxone interfered with the suppression of blood pressure by electroacupuncture…
Read MoreElectroacupuncture at PC5-6 prevents bradycardia in lab
Background paper looking at median nerve mediated cardiac regulation. This has an indirect relationship to HRV and my own interests. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol. 2014 Dec 1;307(11):R1313-23. doi: 10.1152/ajpregu.00300.2014. Epub 2014 Sep 17. GABA in nucleus tractus solitarius participates in electroacupuncture modulation of cardiopulmonary bradycardia reflex. Tjen-A-Looi SC1, Guo ZL2, Longhurst JC2….
Read MoreAcupuncture for Hypertension: Remarkable Case Study
This is the amazing case of a 60+ year old woman with long standing (30 year) history of high blood pressure. Her daughter brought her in for acupuncture treatment since she refuses any sort of medications. She comes from a more traditional society and is skeptical of modern medicine and always found an excuse to stop…
Read MoreAcupuncture and Regulation of Blood Pressure: 20 years of research
This pertains to my own area of interest, heart rate variability as a measure of the autonomic nervous system, and describes acupuncture’s effect on the autonomic nervaous system Int Rev Neurobiol. 2013;111:257-71. Acupuncture regulation of blood pressure: two decades of research. Longhurst JC, Tjen-A-Looi S. Source Department of Medicine, Physiology and Biophysics, and Pharmacology,…
Read MoreAnti-Hypotensive Effects of Acupuncture: Longhurst
This abstract and powerpoint by Longhurst looks at the physiology of the anti-hypotensive effects of acupuncture. Abstract here John Longhurst Power point here John Longhurst_ppt
Read MoreCardiovascular Depressor Response: Longhurst Brain Study
Blog has been quiet since I was overseas after attending and presenting at the SAR conference in Ann Arbor. It was a pretty good conference. No big breakthroughs yet, unfortunately, but incremental progress with brain mapping. An interesting forum discussion on electroacupuncture versus manual acupuncture. The upshot was that we don’t have enough evidence yet. …
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