In the August 2005 Scientific American on page 30 is a very interesting
article on acupuncture.  Those seeing the column's working title
"Skeptic" may assume that it it works from a vantage point of wanting to
tear everything down, but actually it works from the eminently fair and
logical vantage point of tearing things apart well enough to get an idea
of if things work, and if so then how.
 
I know that there have been mixed reviews of the use of acupuncture for
pain relief among those trying it for ferrets.
 
It would be interesting to know how much of the effect in the animals is
the influence of the interaction and attention, and how much may be a
real biochemical effect with other causes.  Coming to mind is a time
decades ago when I worked with primates and some other wild animals when
we went to collect two gibbons for transport to a new location.  I was
warned that they were vicious ones, so Ii began with approaching and
self grooming, then very calmly (I had always found back when I worked
with dangerous animals that it is important to be dead-calm myself when
working with a wild animal, if possible.) and then soothingly grooming
the presented arm of one gibbon until the gibbon was thoroughly zoned
out with the arm extended and the individual mesmerized, and then I
could move aside and the prof could approach and inject the tranquilizer
without the gibbon even caring.  Then we went on to use the same
technique with the second one.  But what had the effect?  How much
traces back to soothing interaction, even without touch?  Certainly,
it is possible to induce states of extreme calm without touch; that
happens in a number of ways all the time from hypnotism.  I used to
use self-hypnotism for pain control and muscle spasm decades ago, and
years ago presurgically -- without pre-surgical tranquilizing -- was
able to induce a level of calm with it for myself that the surgeon and
anesthesiologist said was greater than they normally saw with
tranquilizers despite being worried about the surgery and anesthesia
themselves.  The same or similar affects have been documented in
everything from soothing talk, to prayer in an individual's strongly
held religion, to just being with others who are calm, even (in cattle)
to better design of the cattle lots and feeding shoots to reduce stress
in cattle before they are killed.
 
How much was the effect went beyond those sorts of things and was due to
the touch itself?  Does touch have an effect similar to that seen in the
acupuncture and electrical stimulation studies mentioned below, and if
so do those techniques increase it or induce it more easily, or both?
 
Two sections in this month's column intrigued me immensely because they
might wind up eventually having use for ferrets depending upon what
further study shows and depending upon if a company springs for the tens
of millions of dollars of insurance a year needed to cover making and
selling of medical equipment for human use, or if one gets to lesser
amount and makes such a stimulation box for vet use, should it pain out
well enough in controlled veterinary studies.
 
The first section mentions that it was possible in humans to reduce the
amount of gas anesthesia used for surgery by 50% using a variant of
acupuncture.  What makes it even more interesting was that they did not
even use needles.  Instead they used electrical stimulation of the skin.
In another study mentioned in that section of the article when needles
were used electrical stimulation through those needles increased the pain
control by as much as 100% (no explanation is given as to how this number
is reached).  The author/researcher, George A.  Ulett, who compiled the
data for the 2002 text _the Biology of Acupuncture_ hypothesizes that the
technique may increase neurochemicals that reduce pain such as
beta-endorphins, enkephalin, and dynorphin.
 
In a double blind study reported upon this year sham acupuncture worked
as well as real acupuncture in reducing migraines.  Klaus Linde et. al.
have their article in the May 4th Journal of the American Medical
Association.  The amount of effect was actually quite large, but what did
not matter was where the needles were placed.  The beneficial effect was
very similar (51% with real acupuncture and 53% with sham acupuncture).
Why it worked in both cases is unknown and the subject of further
studies, but perhaps on testing the hypotheses of Dr. Ulett more may be
either discovered or removed from consideration.
 
If this is a real effect I know that vets would love to be able to reduce
the amount of anesthesia used, and would love to have extremely safe
alternatives for controlling pain.
 
Take a look at page 30 of the August Sci Am.
 
-- Sukie (not a vet)
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[Posted in FML issue 4939]