Ondrejkovicova Alena, Petrovics Gabriel, Svitkova Katarína, Bajtekova Bibiana, Bangha Ondrej
Department of Acupuncture, Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Slovak Medical University, Bratislava, Slovakia.
Neuro Endocrinol Lett. 2016 Jul;37(3):163-168.
Acupuncture is one of the branches of Chinese Traditional Medicine dating back almost 5 000 years. The expansion of China's trade and business relations with other Asian countries brought about the spreading of acupuncture in 7th Century. Nowadays, acupuncture is an interdisciplinary clinical field of Medicine dealing with treatment, diagnostics and prevention of mainly functional disorders, algic, allergic and addictive conditions of various etiology, localization and intensity. It draws from the millennia of experience of Oriental Medicine as well as contemporary knowledge of morphology, physiology and neurophysiology. The acupuncture method is based on influencing the body functions in a precise way by controlled irritation of particular active meridian points using special needles, heat (moxibustion), pressure (acupressure), underpressure (cupping), electricity (electroacupuncture), light (laser therapy), ultrasound (sonopuncture), static or pulsating electromagnetic field (magnetic therapy) and solutions (pharmacopuncture).The use of acupuncture as a method of pain relief in Modern Western Medicine is based on a wide range of clinical trials, and there is no doubt that it has significant effect in the treatment of acute and chronic pain classification. The introduction of gate-control theory and endogenous opioids facilitated the recognition of acupuncture in pain treatment.
针灸是中医的一个分支，其历史可追溯到近5000年前。中国与其他亚洲国家贸易和商业关系的扩展使得针灸在7世纪得以传播。如今，针灸是医学领域的一个跨学科临床方向，主要用于治疗、诊断和预防各种病因、部位及强度的功能性紊乱、疼痛、过敏和成瘾性病症。它汲取了东方医学数千年的经验以及当代形态学、生理学和神经生理学知识。针灸方法是通过使用特殊针具、热（艾灸）、压力（指压）、负压（拔罐）、电（电针）、光（激光疗法）、超声（声针疗法）、静磁场或脉动电磁场（磁疗）以及溶液（药物穴位注射），精确刺激特定的经络穴位，从而影响身体机能。在现代西医中，将针灸用作缓解疼痛的方法是基于大量的临床试验，毫无疑问，它在急慢性疼痛分级治疗中具有显著效果。闸门控制理论和内源性阿片类物质的引入促进了针灸在疼痛治疗中的认可。
