Multiple Comparisons of Traditional Acupuncture Therapies of Japan, Korea and China—A Preliminary Report of Three Countries’ Acupuncture (TCA) Project

摘要

Acupuncture therapy had established in China and it distributed among Asian countries and developed in each country as traditional medicine. In this project we compared the procedures and effects of traditional acupuncture therapies in China, Korea and Japan by using 10 healthy young male volunteers with written informed consent. Total white cell counts, leukocyte subsets and noradrenalin contents were used as outcomes. Three well trained traditional acupuncture therapists were chosen and they treated the same subjects at random order with intervals of at least two months. Each acupuncturist made his diagnosis and points selection for potentiate vital conditions. Clearly different procedures and point selections were used among three traditional acupuncture therapies on the same subject and the obtained changes of outcome measures also differed. Although variations of data were quite large, these results clearly demonstrated that acupuncture therapies have developed among three countries in unique manner.