“The Mystery of Acupuncture” Proven Scientific

“The Mystery of Acupuncture” Proven Scientific. October. 12, 2004 23:10. by Sang Hoon Kim corekim@donga.com.

In Chinese medicine, when one side of a person’s arm and leg become paralyzed by stroke, doctors apply acupuncture. Modern medicine, however, deny the effect of acupuncture.

A scientific research, which capsized this theory, has been introduced by Korean researchers for the first time in the world.

The content of the joint research made by Jun Shin-soo, a doctor and professor of neurosurgery at the medical school of Catholic University, and Park Sang-dong, the director of Dong-seo Chinese Medicine Hospital, will be posted in the most prestigious journal of Oriental Medicine, the “America Journal of Chinese Medicine.”

Paralysis Can be Solved by Acupuncture—

In the perspective of modern medicine, hands and feet move according to orders made by the cortex in the brain. On the contrary, giving stimuli to hands and feet do not activate the cortex in the brain. However, in this research, it was confirmed that precise stimulus to these parts can activate it.

From February 2001 to December 2003, the research team divided 20 people into two groups, and to the patients in the A group, researchers applied acupuncture to the Yang-lung-chun meridian of the acupuncture, where treatment is effective against paralysis of the brain; and to the B group, they applied acupuncture around the Yang-lung-chun meridian and took pictures of the brain using the f-MRI(magnetic resonance imaging).

As a result, the cortex of the brain in patients of the A group were activated while those of the B group showed no change. Director Park explained, “A precise stimulus given to Yang-lung-chun follows through the blood vessels to the brain and activates it, thereby relieving paralysis.”

Chinese Medicine Hoisted a Sail to be a Science—

Although meridian pathways were found in animal experiments, it is the first time that such meridian pathways and points actually exist in humans. Moreover, through this research, the content of Dong-eui Bogam (a medical book written during the Joseon Dynasty), stating that acupuncture should be applied to the arm and leg opposite in those paralyzed was proven scientifically correct.

According to the results, applying acupuncture to Yang-lung-chun of the left leg activates the cortex of the left brain. Scientifically, the left brain commands the right side of a body. Thus, activating the left brain enhances the capacity of the right side of a human body. In other words, the acupuncture treatment up to now, which applies acupuncture to the opposite side of the paralyzed body, now possesses scientific foundation.