Editor's note: The lead story in the October 2002 issue of Acupuncture Today reviewed a study of laser acupuncture and carpal tunnel syndrome conducted by Dr. Margaret Naeser, a scientist at the Boston University School of Medicine. Following the publication of that issue, Dr. Naeser contacted AT to provide additional information not included in the original article. Dr. Naeser's letter is as follows:
Dear Editor:
Thank you for selecting to review in Acupuncture Today my recently published paper, "Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Pain Treated with Low-Level Laser and Microamps Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation: A Controlled Study." I am especially pleased that you summarized two of the tables for inclusion. I thought I should mention at few additional items:
In summary, there were no complications from using low-level laser acupuncture and microamps TENS in the treatment of carpal tunnel syndrome. This method is used on mild or moderate CTS cases (as defined with nerve conduction studies) with a 88% to 92% success rate. This method is not used on advanced, severe CTS cases where there is abnormality on electromyogram (EMG) of the abductor pollicis brevis (a muscle at the base of the thumb). The level of severity of pain may be mild, moderate or severe prior to beginning this treatment.
The CTS patients who were successfully treated with laser acupuncture and microamps TENS had already failed to achieve good pain relief with the other traditional methods (wrist splints, anti-inflammatory drugs, cortisone injections into the carpal tunnel, or even in some patients, surgical release) for a period of 3-30 months before entering our program. After the laser acupuncture and microamps TENS treatment program, no patients experience functional loss or worsened. Most patients chose to continue their work.
The goal of our research was to show that there was a new, conservative method of treating carpal tunnel syndrome, which could be used to reduce the future need for surgical release of the transverse carpal ligament. Our laser acupuncture and microamps TENS treatment is ideal to use earlier in the course of the disorder (preferably within the first year of symptoms). This would thus prevent the development of severe CTS where patients are referred for surgical evaluation.
Thank you again for offering me this opportunity to add more information to your already excellent and inclusive article. I hope acupuncturists will be able to make this painless, non-invasive treatment program widely available for patients with carpal tunnel syndrome.
Sincerely,
Margaret A. Naeser, PhD, LAc, Dipl.Ac.
Research Professor of Neurology
Boston University School of Medicine (and) V.A. Boston Healthcare System
Chronic pain afflicts over 20% of the adult population. Sadly, most MDs have essentially no education in treating pain, beyond offering a few toxic medications. Then they tend to steer people with pain away from those health practitioners who are trained. This puts the acupuncture community on the front lines for addressing this epidemic.
When the body is going through a stressful event, the sympathetic system is activated. This activation will help the body with a life-threatening situation. If this state is activated for prolonged periods of time, it starts to consume energy. These traumatic events that generate stressors in the autonomic nervous system (ANS) will eventually become internalized.
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One of the things that makes acupuncture so difficult to measure is that the medicine actually does contain some esoteric aspects. There have been numerous studies that demonstrate the neurochemical reasoning behind why acupuncture points stimulate the autonomic nervous system to enact change However, not all the benefits of TCM can easily be measured by randomized, controlled trials. But does that make them fundamentally and definitively untrue?
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