Anesthesia Medical News about acupuncture needle sensation; analgesic response

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Could acupuncture needle sensation be a predictor of analgesic response?
Acupuncture in Medicine, 06/16/09

Benham A et al. - In this paper, the authors debate the possibility of using the self-report of the overall intensity of needle sensation as a predictor of analgesic outcome to acupuncture. The authors describe previous research which has focused on developing tools to capture the nature of the descriptors used by patients when they self-report needle sensation and reveal that little attention has been given to its role in outcome. The authors demonstrate that needle sensation is a complex phenomenon with subjects using multiple descriptors to report their experience. The authorse argue that the intensity of the overall experience of needle sensation may prove useful as a gross marker of the adequacy of acupuncture. The authors briefly describe their research which isolates individual components of needling technique, such as depth of needle penetration and bidirectional needle rotation, in order to assess their contribution to overall needle sensation intensity.

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