Acupuncture

Acupuncture prevents headaches and migraines but faked treatments when needles are incorrectly inserted appear to work nearly as well, German researchers said Wednesday. Their findings suggest the benefits of acupuncture may stem more from belief in the technique, said Klaus Linde, a researcher at the Technical University in Munich, who led the analysis published in the Cochrane Review journal. Studies have shown that acupressure and acupuncture may stimulate the release of endorphins, which can relieve stress, pain and nausea.

Acupuncture is not just for people. It's for cities too, if the city is Portland. Adam Kuby stuck a 23-foot needle into the ground down by the Willamette River and hopes to plant more, choosing locations where he figures the city's "chi," or vital energy, needs some help. Unusual? You bet. Unusual for Portland? Not really. For several years, Portland has been reaping praise from lifestyle magazines and specialty publications, as one of the nation's more livable cities. It's listed among the best places to have a baby, grow old, go for a walk, ride a bike, take a jog, breathe clean air, own a dog, take public transportation, start a business (green or otherwise)

Your article on itching captured well the misery and often resigned agony suffered by those of us with chronic itchy spots ["The Relentless Itch," April 2]. However, like most pieces on the subject, you focused on drugs and chemicals and did not even mention the only 100% effective relief I've ever found: a cold, wet compress. Not a long term solution, but enough to get to sleep -- and that's a blessing. ROGER WALTON \o7North Hills \f7 A couple of years ago, I suffered from widespread persistent and severe itching.

An acupuncturist has been charged with sexually assaulting a patient he was treating for back pain, authorities said Tuesday. Kyoung Seok Jeon, 56, owner of the Hye Min clinic in the 9800 block of Chapman Avenue in Garden Grove, was treating the 38-year-old woman in January when he allegedly massaged her breasts and digitally penetrated her, claiming it was part of the treatment. The woman, who was not identified, told her husband, who contacted police.

Not all placebos are created equal. Harvard University researchers reported Wednesday that people who received sham acupuncture treatments felt more relief from arm pain than those who took an inert sugar pill. The different, but positive, responses to faux treatments illustrate that relief may lie in medical rituals as well as in the medicine, said Ted Kaptchuk, associate director of Harvard's division for research and education in complementary and integrative medical therapies.

The ancient Chinese technique of sticking needles into the skin to relieve pain, nausea and many other ills can indeed make people feel better -- more mellow and more energized. Many researchers used to think this lovely state was mostly due to the placebo effect.

Traditional acupuncture treatments for migraines are no better at reducing pain than sham acupuncture treatments, researchers have found, contradicting earlier research. But, in an unexpected twist, both methods appear to significantly reduce migraine frequency. "Sham acupuncture seems to be very potent compared to no treatment," said lead researcher Klaus Linde, a clinical epidemiologist at the Technische Universitat Munich in Germany.

In an unusual alliance, the Schwarzenegger administration and some Democratic legislators are moving to abolish the state board that regulates acupuncturists, saying the board has been more concerned with promoting the profession than with protecting patient safety. In its six-year existence, the California Acupuncture Board has pressed to expand educational requirements for new practitioners to include physiology and physics as well as Eastern and Western diagnostic techniques.

Jackie Apuzzo is 16 weeks pregnant -- something she was beginning to think would never happen. Following nine years of unsuccessful efforts to have a baby, including failed in vitro fertilization, a miscarriage and a diagnosis of endometriosis, the 37-year-old social worker finally visited an acupuncturist on the advice of a friend. After two months of acupuncture treatments and a regimen of Chinese herbs, she became pregnant.