Key result
Needle and red laser stimulation at Baihui significantly decreased heart rate, while violet laser stimulation at Neiguan significantly increased total heart rate variability.
Why the study?
Do different modalities of laser acupuncture alter heart rate and heart rate variability compared to manual needle acupuncture in healthy volunteers?
RCT (n=11)
crossover
Do different modalities of laser acupuncture alter heart rate and heart rate variability compared to manual needle acupuncture in healthy volunteers?
Different modalities of laser acupuncture at specific acupoints elicit distinct, localized neurovegetative responses in healthy volunteers.
May modulate HR/HRV via GV20 or PC6; extends sparse single-acupoint data but needs replication before practice change.
There are only few scientific publications dealing with the basic investigation of the effects of only one or two acupoints or comparing one single point with another single point, using different stimulation methods in the same persons. The aim of this needle-controlled, randomized crossover study was to investigate the neurovegetative parameters heart rate (HR) and heart rate variability (HRV) using two different acupoints, Baihui (GV20) and Neiguan (PC6), in separate sessions. We investigated 11 healthy volunteers (3 m, 8 f) with a mean age ± SD of 22.9 ± 2.8 years. The two acupoints were stimulated for 10 minutes each with manual needle acupuncture, red laser acupuncture (658 nm), and violet laser acupuncture (405 nm), in randomized order. Needle and red laser stimulation of the Baihui acupoint decreased HR significantly. Only violet laser stimulation at the Neiguan acupoint induced a significant increase of total HRV. Further studies using other neurovegetative parameters and more volunteers are necessary to confirm the preliminary results.
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Litscher et al. (2013) conducted an RCT in healthy volunteers (n=11). Red laser (658 nm) and violet laser (405 nm) acupuncture vs. Manual needle acupuncture was evaluated on Heart rate (HR) and heart rate variability (HRV). Needle and red laser stimulation at Baihui significantly decreased heart rate, while violet laser stimulation at Neiguan significantly increased total heart rate variability.
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