침과 구두침이 중년여성의 자율신경계에 미치는 영향

Abstract

ABSTRACT

The Effects of Acupuncture and Combining Acupuncture with Moxibustion on Autonomic Nervous System of Middle-aged Women

Hong, Seung Hui Advisor : Prof. Lee, Mi Ja Department of Complementary and Alternative Medicine, Graduate School of Chosun University

Middle-aged women are exposed to lots of stress playing important roles in their family and job, which causes various diseases connected with attenuation of autonomic nervous system (ANS) activity. This study was conducted to prove the effects of acupuncture and combining acupuncture with moxibustion (CAM). Heart rate variability (HRV) was measured in middle-aged women who are apt to exposed to stress, before and after undergoing an acupuncture and CAM procedure; therefore, the ultimate purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of acupuncture and CAM on ANS activity. 50 participants were selected from among the middle-aged women in their 40s to 50s who are not taking any medications affecting the ANS and not exposed to a particular disease. Each 25 of those 50 participants were randomly assigned into two groups: an acupuncture group and a CAM group. Only one procedure was assigned to one participant and HRV was measured before and after the experiment were used. Those assigned into an acupuncture group were applied acupuncture treatment at specific acupoints of HT7, PC6 and SP6 for 20 minutes, whereas those in CAM group were applied acupuncture treatment at three afore-mentioned acupoints combining with moxibustion placed on the top of acupuncture needle for 20 minutes. HRV was measured in 7 items of its two main approaches: Time domain analysis and Frequency domain analysis . SPSS 20.0 WIN was used to perform a paired t-test for data analysis. The analysis was empirically verified at significance level (p<0.05). Acupuncture group showed significant difference in TP (p=0.004), VLF (p=0.007) and HF (p=0.011). CAM group showed significant difference in SDNN (p=0.000), TP (p=0.000), VLF (p=0.000) and LF (p=0.016). Both acupuncture and CAM also have shown a positive effect in insignificant items, proving their positive effects on controlling autonomic nerve system. The greater changes were observed in CAM group than acupuncture group, proving that CAM is more effective for controlling ANS. The results have proved the potential of acupuncture and CAM therapies as complementary and alternative medicine to activate the ANS. In order to popularize their therapeutic use in treating and reducing stress known to cause about 80% of diseases, the followings should be considered in the future study design: 1) environment more suitable for measuring controllable specific HRV, 2) more specialized study to be performed on each individual acupoint, as well as differently combined acupoints (at least two acupoints), and 3) study design on various stress stimulations and particular disease.

Key Words : Autonomic Nervous System, Heart Rate Variability, Acupuncture, Combining Acupuncture with Moxibustion