Research Progress of Postherpetic Neuralgia with Skin Acupuncture
Postherpetic neuralgia(PHN)is a disease that is located in the skin and mainly affects the liver and spleen,and prolonged illness can damage the kidney.There are two types of pathogenesis of the disease:excess and deficiency.In terms of excess,it means that the liver meridian dampness-heat leads to fire toxin accumulation struggling with blood and qi,resulting in local qi and blood stag-nation,meridians'stasis obstruction,zang-fu organs'unsmooth qi movement resulting in pain.In terms of deficiency,it means that weak healthy qi leads to fail to resist pathogens.If a patient is attacked by external pathogens,and the residual pathogen has not been removed for a long time,it can transform into fire consuming yin blood failing to nourish skin and muscles of the meridians,which causes pain.Therefore,the treatment of PHN needs to take into account both internal and external deficiency and excess mainly to reinforce healthy qi and dispel pathogens,regulate qi and activate blood,dredge collaterals and relieve pain.Treating PHN with skin acupuncture can guide and induce pathogens to go out according to the situation,which can not only promote blood circulation,remove blood stasis,dredge collaterals,relieve pain,but also stimulate meridian qi and regulate zang-fu organs.Commonly-used methods include skin acu-puncture for bloodletting,skin acupuncture combined with ordinary acupuncture,skin acupuncture combined with moxibustion,skin acu-puncture combined with Chinese medicinals,skin acupuncture combined with Western medicine,etc.In the treatment of PHN with skin acupuncture,the choice of clinical tapping site is mainly local,tapping acupuncture,followed by Ashi point and Jiaji(EX-B2).At pres-ent,there are still the following problems in the clinical research of skin acupuncture for PHN:The sample size of observation is small,the lack of multi-center,large sample study.The evaluation of curative effect is mainly based on observational indexes,lacks of laborato-ry index observation,and the experimental results are subjective and lack of objective authenticity.There are more clinical application studies,but fewer basic theory ones.PHN is prone to relapse,and the course of the disease is long.Some clinical studies only focus on the short-term effect and lack of follow-up.The treatment mainly focuses on relieving pain and lacks psychological guidance to patients.Therefore,it is recommended to strengthen the basic research of skin acupuncture for PHN,pay attention to objective efficacy criteria,later follow-up and psychological counseling,and design more rigorous scientific research programs.
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