If you didn't have any prior knowledge of what a "cytokine storm" is, you probably do now, as it's been widely proposed as a potential reason why some COVID-19 patients suffer severe and even fatal complications. New research suggests acupuncture has the potential to play a critical role in influencing the inflammatory process that can lead to it.
Researchers at Harvard Medical School have discovered that acupuncture activates signaling pathways that influence the inflammatory response. Using a mouse model, they found that mice with bacterially induced systemic inflammation who received electroacupuncture showed increases in either anti-inflammatory or pro-inflammatory markers, depending on the location, intensity and timing of treatment delivery.
"The revelation of somatotopic organization and intensity dependency in driving distinct autonomic pathways could form a road map for optimizing stimulation parameters to improve both efficacy and safety in using acupuncture as a therapeutic modality," stated the researchers, writing in the journal Neuron.
A Harvard news release provides a layman's explanation, particularly in terms of the study's potential relevance to the "cytokine storm":
"In the study, acupuncture stimulation influenced how animals coped with cytokine storm – the rapid release of large amounts of cytokines, inflammation-fueling molecules. The phenomenon has gained mainstream attention as a complication of severe COVID-19, but this aberrant immune reaction can occur in the setting of any infection and has been long known to physicians as a hallmark of sepsis, an organ-damaging, often-fatal inflammatory response to infection."
To read the full text of this study, which of course requires further investigation in humans, click here.
Over my almost 30 years in clinical practice, I have used Chai Hu Long Gu Mu Li Tang extensively for a wide array of clinical presentations ranging from chronic headaches to anxiety, insomnia, and prescription drug withdrawal symptoms if these situations fit the appropriate patterns – all with extremely positive clinical outcomes.
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