Acupuncture in Italy

Acupuncture spread across Italy in 1960s and 1970s following other Western countries with a short delay, though the first descriptions of acupuncture reached Italy after Matteo Ricci (1552-1610)’s travels in China.

In 1968, the first medical and scientific acupuncture society was founded named as SIA (Italian Acupuncture Society); it followed a traditional approach adopting the principles of the Chinese medical philosophy.  In 1973, the SIRAA (Italian Society of Reflexotherapy, Acupuncture, and Auriculotherapy) was founded which recognised acupuncture to its neurophysiological mechanisms.

In 70s acupuncture was first taught in Italian schools of acupuncture by French teachers. At that time, patients were few, and acupuncture practitioners received insufficient and superficial training.

The real rise in interest of acupuncture occurred in 80s due to the scientific relationships established first with foreign acupuncture schools, above all from the Anglo-Saxon countries and then in later 90 s, with the universities of traditional Chinese medicine in China. Consequently, both teaching activities and clinical practice improved.

In 1987, the founding of the FISA (Italian Federation of Acupuncture Societies) was a milestone for the growth of acupuncture in Italy: The past—represented by the two previous scientific societies, that is, SIA and SIRAA—was superseded by both a political and scientific perspective.

Today, FISA is the leading self-regulatory body for the practice of acupuncture in Italy and represents most Italian MD acupuncturists. It is the only Italian scientific society of acupuncture to be accredited by the Ministry of Health. Its members include 19 medical associations and 13 schools of acupuncture. Since its foundation, 4,187 MDs have been trained and certified by FISA until December 31, 2018. In addition, FISA coordinates national resources, offers assistance, and disseminates information related to acupuncture and TCM to create opportunities for youth to achieve successful futures.

FISA standards are recognized by regional, national, and international associations, institutions, and organizations. FISA has fostered alliances with regional governments and assisted the Ministry of Health in many assignments.

In 1982, the Italian Supreme Court of Cassation asserted that medical doctors could exclusively practice acupuncture. Since then, only people with a degree in medicine and surgery who passed the state exam and were properly certified as a medical doctor could practice acupuncture.

In 2011, FISA President Carlo Maria Giovanardi was appointed Expert of the Superior Health Council for Non-Conventional Medicine. This appointment proved the growing interest of prestigious institutions, such as the Superior Health Council, in acupuncture. Consequently, FISA played a key role in establishing requirements and coordinating teaching activities for education in acupuncture at the State–Regions Conference held on February 7, 2013.

Over the last few years, acupuncture has increasingly spread in Italy. Nowadays, it is administered not only in private clinics, but also in public structures belonging to the National Healthcare Service. When acupuncture was first introduced in Italy, it was mainly used to treat the symptoms of pain syndromes. Therefore, it is most used in public pain relief centers. Over time, its range of application has remarkably increased; it now covers a wide variety of fields, including the treatment of chemotherapy-induced side effects in cancer patients, among others.

References

Giovanardi CM et al Integr Med Res. 2020 Mar;9(1):1-4. doi: 10.1016/j.imr.2019.12.001. Epub 2019 Dec 17.

10 reasons why you should try acupuncture to boost your fertility

No1, reduce stress. Stress impacts fertility more than you imagined. If you are stressed, it can make your hormone imbalanced. Many women have experience that when they are stressed, their period arrives earlier than it should; or they have spots break out. Acupuncture can effectively reduce the stress.

No2, improves blood circulation. Good blood circulation is essential for the body to preform including ovaries and uterus. Many researches have shown that acupuncture can improve blood circulation to the body and ovaries and uterus.

No3, reduce inflammation. Metabolism products from inflammation can have toxic effects to the organs include reproductive system. Acupuncture can effectively reduce inflammation and has detoxing effect.

No4, release tension and muscle spasms. Tension and muscle spasm in the body can compromise micro blood circulation in the body including ovaries and uterus. Acupuncture can release all the tensions.

No5, rebalance hormones. Follicle development depends on hormones. Hormones imbalance affects egg qualities. Acupuncture can help rebalance the hormones and improve egg quality.

No6, improves egg quality and ovulation. As mentioned above, acupuncture can improve blood microcirculation and rebalance hormones to improve egg quality.

No7, reduce fallopian tube spasm. Fallopian tube spasm can block the way of eggs, sperms and embryos. Acupuncture can release fallopian tube spasm and help the transportation.

No8, improve uterine lining. Uterine lining is a bed for embryo. It needs to be good and comfortable to embryo to implant in. uterine lining development depends on blood circulation and hormone balance. Acupuncture can help improve uterine lining to its best for embryo implantation.

No9, improve sperm quantity and quality. Acupuncture can help improve sperm’s quality and quantity for women to get pregnant.

No 10, improves embryo quality. Acupuncture can help improve embryo quality by improving egg and sperm quality.

Natural facial skin care with facial acupuncture

What stress does to your skin?

Stress can affect your whole body including your face. It has a powerful effect on your facial skin. It accelerates aging process though the exact relationship of stress on aging is complex and isn't fully understood. Stress causes a chemical response that makes skin more sensitive and reactive. It also causes skin dryness and dehydration which leads to fine lines and wrinkles. It causes tension of facial muscles which leads to deep wrinkles and facial pain. Stress causes an inflammatory response in the body and leads the pores to become clogged and break causing acne. Skin losses its radiance which is a result of skin blood flow slowing down. Skin also losses its elasticity and forms sagging skin. Take care of your skin to prevent from damaging and rapid skin aging. This will help keep your skin healthy and glowing and delay the natural aging process.

Natural skin care with facial acupuncture

Natural skin care using nature products is that you care the skin with naturally derived products however according to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) all ingredients are chemicals by definition. And also natural does not have medical meaning to dermatologists.

Facial acupuncture is putting acupuncture needles on the particular points on the face. Facial acupuncture is absolutely natural in facial skin care. It stimulates skin endogenous metabolisms and improves skin blood circulation and reduces stress.

Acupuncture improves skin blood supply

The skin contains a network of small blood vessels which provides nutrition to the skin. The blood vessel wall can contract and relax to regulate blood supply to the skin. If the blood vessels contract more than normal, less blood passes through them and the skin becomes pale and white. When the blood vessels are completely relaxed, this allows more blood to pass through the skin and the skin appear red. Improving skin blood flow will improve skin nutrition status.

Recently many studies have shown that acupuncture increases blood flow and microcirculation in the skin.

These are examples of the studies

Kuo TC et al Am J Chin Med (2004) 32:117-29

Mori H et al Acupunct Med (2014) 32:167-71
Hsiu H et al Microvasc Res (2013) 89:34-9
Kimura et al Acupunct Med (2013) 31:74-80

Huang T et al J Tradit Chin Med 92012) 32:40-4

Hsiu H etal Evid Based Complement Alternat Med (2011) 2011:435928

Hsiu H et al ConfProc IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc (2008) 2008:2916-9

Hsiu H et al Lasers Med Sci (2009) 24:353-8

Hsiao SH and Tsai LJ J Acupunct Meridian Stud (2008) 1:42-50

Kimura K et al Am J Chin Med (2006) 34:189-96

Sandberg M et al Eur J Appl Physiol (2003) 90:114-9

Zhang D et al Sheng Wu Yi Xue Gong Cheng Xue Za Zhi

Baloqun JA Disabil Rehabil (1996) 18:523-8

In these studies, different acupuncture points are tested and all are found increased skin blood flow. One of the studies measured facial skin blood flow and skin temperature and showed the skin blood flow was increased after acupuncture treatments.

These studies provided scientific evidences for the application of facial acupuncture to improve facial skin blood flow and nutrition. Acupuncture is potentially a new approach to contribute to anti aging.

Acupuncture for orofacial pain

Orofacial pain or facial pain described as an ache in the front part of the head (including the oral cavity) is a common presentation in primary care. Nearly a quarter of patients in a British primary care study (2504 adult patients) reported orofacial pain. The pain may be musculoskeletal, dental, neural, or sinogenic in origin.

Acupuncture releases orofacial pain effectively. This is recognised by dentists. UCLA School of Dentistry is offering a unique, evidence-based program to train dentists in the basics of acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) theory. By combining TCM principles with Western allopathic Medicine modalities, participants will feel comfortable diagnosing and understanding the pathophysiology of both acute and chronic oral pain conditions from an integrative East-West perspective. Moreover, graduates will learn basic acupuncture treatments that can be safely delivered to patients.

If you see dentists for toothaches or facial pain, you may get acupuncture treatment.

References

https://www.bmj.com/content/361/bmj.k1517

https://www.dentistry.ucla.edu/learning/acupuncture-integrative-oral-medicine

Maternity acupuncture in the UK, what do you know about it?

Women are seeking acupuncture treatments for a variety of women's health–related conditions. A European Union (EU)/China survey from acupuncturists indicated that 41% of EU respondents commonly treated obstetric/gynecologic issues, of which half of them from the UK. Another U.K. survey of acupuncturists reported that fertility acupuncture is 15% of their treatments. Maternity acupuncture is also popular. In pregnancy, the most-common conditions were nausea and vomiting, lower-back or pelvic-girdle pain (LBPGP), and labor preparation and induction. Acupuncture during pregnancy and labor has been evaluated as safe when used by a suitably qualified practitioner, and a growing willingness to refer for pregnancy-related acupuncture has been reported from Western health practitioners.

The majority of acupuncturists in countries, such as the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand, offer maternity treatment through private clinics. In contrast, the majority of maternity acupuncture care in European countries—such as Denmark, Finland, Germany, Norway, Sweden, and Switzerland—is administered by hospital midwives who take short training courses.

A recent survey from the UK shows that the most-common maternity situations encountered were: birth preparation [96.5%]; nausea & vomiting [94.2%]; and inducing labor [90.8%]. More than 50% of the practitioners were also treating lower-back and pelvic pain [88.5%], breech presentations [85.0%], threatened miscarriages [63.2%], and headaches/migraines [52.8%]. Only a minority (8 [9.1%]) attended births. A greater number of referrals were received from medical health professionals for pregnancy [65.8%] than for fertility [19.5%] or menstrual conditions [9.7%].

References
Debra Betts, Med Acupunct. 2019 Oct 1; 31(5): 274–280.

Acupuncture can help with dental pain

Acute dental pain is the main reason for seeking dental services. Have you tried acupuncture for reduce your dental pain? There is a study aimed to evaluate the use of acupuncture in reducing the intensity of acute dental pain in pre-dental care in patients waiting for emergency dental care, and was conducted at the After-Hours Emergency Dental Clinic of Piracicaba Dental School, and at the Emergency Center Dental Specialties I in Piracicaba, São Paulo, Brazil. 120 patients participated the study. The Visual Analog Scale (VAS) was used to measure pain intensity. All patients underwent one session of acupuncture. Reduction in pain was observed in all120 patients. The results of this study indicate that acupuncture analgesia could be a technical adjunct to pain control in patients with acute dental pain, contributing to the restoration of health with social benefit. It is worth trying acupuncture for your dental pain.

References

Grillo CM J Acupunct Meridian Stud. 2014 Apr;7(2):65-70. doi: 10.1016/j.jams.2013.03.005. Epub 2013 Apr 11.

Referred pain makes acupuncture points sensitized and tender.

Referred pain is the pain felt in somewhere in the body other than in the site of origin. Pain referral has a neural basis. Specific pathways and neural connections in the brain are thought to lead to the possibility of pain referral.

One group of nerve fibres conduct information about touch and another group conduct information about tissue damage or noxious stimulation via different sensory nerves. Many sensory fibres from different parts of the different area can terminate on the same set of second order neurons. The second order neurones are part of the pathway that sends sensory information to higher centres for perception. However, since there is so much convergence of sensory information from different body parts onto the same second order neurones, these second order neurones may provide ambiguous information as to the exact location of the noxious stimulus. This neural mechanism is thought to be one way whereby the higher centres of the brain can become "confused" as to the exact location of the noxious stimulus.

Another explanation of pain referral is the activating of silent or latent synaptic connections. When there is prolonged and/or intense noxious stimulation, some of these ineffective synapses may become effective connections. The information is transmitted from other parts unrelated to the source of the pain. The brain therefore can become confused as to the correct location of the pain.

Recent research has investigated correlation between referred pain distribution and acupoint sensitization in patients with intestinal diseases. In clinical research, 443 patients from 8 hospitals were recruited, including the outpatients and inpatients of Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, chronic appendicitis and other intestinal diseases. The site with tenderness on the body surface and the morphological changes of local skin were observed and recorded in the patients. Using a sensory tenderness instrument, the pain threshold at the sensitization point was measured in 60 patients with ulcerative colitis. The referred pain on the body surface in the patients with intestinal diseases was mainly located in the lower abdomen, the lumbar region and the lower legs. The diameter of tenderness region was 1.5 to 2.5 cm. Compared with the region without sensitization, the pain threshold of the sensitization point in the patients with ulcerative colitis was reduced significantly. The referred pain on the body surface in the patients with appendicitis was located in the right lower abdomen, the waist and back and the right lower limbs on the medial side. The tenderness region was 1 to 2 cm in diameter and was irregular in form. Intestinal diseases induce referred pain on the body surface where is the same as or adjacent to the location of the spinal segment corresponding to the affected intestinal section. These sensitization regions are related to the locations of acupoints.

References
Cui X et al Zhongguo Zhen Jiu 2019 Nov 12;39(11):1193-8. doi: 10.13703/j.0255-2930.2019.11.016.