Chronic back pain sufferers sometimes try acupuncture to find relief. Now, researchers report that two kinds of acupuncture, and even an acupuncture simulation using toothpicks, proved more helpful to patients than more traditional treatments, such as medications and visits to doctors or physical therapists.
Researchers led by Daniel C. Cherkin of the Center for Health Studies in Seattle tested three kinds of acupuncture - the first tailored to an individual, the second a more standardized method, and a third in which toothpicks in thin plastic tubes were used to mimic the use of needles at key acupuncture points. The surface pressure of the toothpicks stimulated the skin, but did not pierce it.
The test subjects, 638 adults, were randomly assigned to receive 10 treatments of each of the three acupuncture treatments. After eight weeks, six months, and a year, the patients were asked to rate their symptoms and function.
All three kinds of acupuncture - individualized, standardized, and the toothpick treatment - provided better results than more traditional care, the participants said.
Possible explanations were put forth for how the toothpicks could produce positive results. One was that superficial stimulation of the skin works as well as needles, the researchers said. Or perhaps patients felt better because of their therapists' conviction, their own enthusiasm, or their belief that the acupuncture would work.
BOTTOM LINE: Real acupuncture is no better than simulated acupuncture, but both appear to be superior to more traditional treatments such as medication or visiting a doctor or physical therapist.
CAUTIONS: Only one component of traditional Chinese acupuncture - needling - was studied.
WHERE TO FIND IT: Archives of Internal Medicine, May 11
Karin S. Bjorksten of the Karolinska Institutet and colleagues from California and Denmark analyzed reports of suicides from 1968 through 2002. They found that suicides were more concentrated in the summer months, especially north of the Arctic Circle, where 82 percent of these deaths occurred during daylight months.
Most of the victims were young men and most of them took their own lives in impulsive and violent ways: hanging or shooting themselves or jumping to their deaths. When mental illness was recorded on death reports, psychosis was more common than depression.
The authors speculate that near-constant light interferes with serotonin, a chemical in the brain that rises with bright sunlight and is linked to impulsivity. Sleep disruptions from daylight-altered body rhythms could also contribute, they said.
"Light is just one of many factors in the complex tragedy of suicide, but this study shows that there is a possible relationship between the two," they write.
BOTTOM LINE: Suicides peaked during the long days of sunshine north of the Arctic Circle, suggesting a possible link between light and suicide.
CAUTIONS: The low rate of depression reported on suicide death certificates may result from a disconnect between Inuit culture of native Greenlanders and Western diagnostic criteria and habits of expressing feelings.
WHERE TO FIND IT: BMC Psychiatry, May 8
