Abstract
Acupuncture therapy for the various types of neuralgia is a very interesting research topic. From the point of view of treatment results it becomes even more interesting when paraneural acupuncture is administered.
At this time as a research subject I chose occipital neuralgia and added the administration of paraneural acupuncture at two points, to the heretofore used treatment methods.
Heretofore used treatment methods include insertion at BL-10 and GV-14 plus BL-8, GB-18 and BL-23 for pain in the occipital area and GB-9, GB-20 and GB-34 for pain in the temporal area.
Paraneural acupuncture methods include insertion at Extra Point, KAMITENCHU, for the Major Occipital Nerve and TH-16 for the Minor Occipital Nerve. KAMITENCHU is located 20mm lateral to GV-16. (Fig. 1) The angle of insertion is about 30° anterior to the perpendicular line. Insertion depth is 40mm. The purpose of insertion is to relieve muscular tension of the trapezius and semispinalis capitis muscles. (Fig. 2)
TH-16 is located 30mm inferior to the mastoid process of the temporal bone in the center of the sternocleidomastoid muscle. (Fig. 1) The direction of insertion at this point is at a 30° angle from the central neck area in a posterior direction. The needle is inserted horizontally to a depth of 40mm. The purpose of insertion is to relieve tension in the scalenus and sternocleidomastoid muscles. (Fig. 2)
The results of treatment of 31 cases were studied and revealed that complete alleviation of symptoms or cure was obtained in 81% or 25 of the cases, significant improvement in 16% or 5 cases and no noticeable results in 3% or 1 of the cases. The average number of treatments in cases in which complete cure was observed was 6, in cases of significant improvement, 4, and in the case in which no change was observed, 4.
In cases in which no change or incomplete cure was observed, it can be assumed that continuation of treatment over an extended period of time would have led to good results.
In respect to the area of pain, complete cure was observed in 87% of cases in which pain was centered along the Major Occipital Nerve, in 83% of cases in which pain was centered along the Minor Occipital nerve and in 77% of cases in which both nerves were affected.
The above results are far superior to results obtained using only former treatment methods. It can be presumed that this is due to the addition of paraneural acupuncture. These paraneural acupuncture methods proved effective in improving treatment results in the treatment of every type of headache.
