Abstract
Purpose: Acupuncture is used to treat the pain of Heberden's nodes in the fingers, and reports have shown it to be effective. This study examined the effectiveness of acupuncture that used a reactive point that differed from the usual acupoints. Cases: Four subjects who were treated at different times for different periods are presented Methods: A spoon needle was used for treatment. For the acupuncture, a reactive point rather than one of the traditional acupoints was used, but the reactive point differed in each subject. In each patient, a specific reactive point could be identified in the affected finger for use as the treatment point. There were two kinds of reactive points: a plus point (moxibustion point) and a minus point (moxibustion forbidden point). Each reactive point was treated once weekly. Results: Pain disappeared, finger thickness appeared to decrease, and finger movement was improved in all four cases. Conclusion: Acupuncture treatment using a reactive point appears to be effective for Heberden's nodes. Until now, there has been no effective treatment for Heberden's nodes.
