Abstract
Objectives : Dyspnea is one of the most common symptoms that we meet, but so far there has been no research about the effects of acupuncture therapy on it. This study was performed in order to evaluate the effect of acupuncture therapy on dyspnea by means of using objective indexes. Methods : The effect of acupuncture therapy was assessed by analyzing the pulmonary function test (PFT) in 10 patients, who had suffered from dyspnea and had pain at the acupuncture point Tian-zong (SI11) when it was compressed by a finger, at our outpatient department. Each patient was treated with acupuncture therapy at both sides of Tian-zong. We compared the results of pre-treatment and post-treatment PFTs, including forced vital capacity (FVC), forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV 1.0), and peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR). Results : FVCs of pre-treatment and post-treatment PFTs were $2.23{\pm}0.34(L)$ and $2.40{\pm}0.36(L)$ respectively (P<0.01). FEV1.0s of pre-treatment and post-treatment PFTs were $1.54{\pm}0.37(L)$ and $1.65{\pm}0.41(L)$ respectively (p<0.05). PEFRs of pre-treatment and post-treatment PFTs were $3.41{\pm}1.26(L)$ and $3.93{\pm}1.42(L)$ respectively (p<0.05). Conclusions From the above data, we conclude that FVC, FEV1.0, and PEFR in dyspneic patients have been improved after acupuncture therapy of Tian-zong, so acupuncture therapy of Tian-zong may relieve the dyspnea symptom.
