獨실험, "침 아무데나 놔도 두통치료 효과"
(서울=연합뉴스) 독일 학자들이 두통 환자들의 경혈을 무시하고 아무데나 놓은 결과 경혈에 놓은 것과 별 차이 없는 효과가 나타났다고 영국의 인디펜던트지가 29일 인터넷판에서 보도했다.
뮌헨대학 보조의학연구센터의 연구진은 브리티시 메디컬 저널(BMJ)에 발표한 보고서에서 만성 긴장성 두통 환자 270명에게 침을 놓은 결과 효과가 나타난 사람들은 두통을 겪는 기간이 절반으로 줄어들었다고 밝혔다.
그러나 이들은 환자들의 경혈을 깊이 찌르지 않고 몸 아무데나 살짝 침을 꽂기만 해도 상당한 치료 효과가 나타났다면서 경혈의 존재에 의문을 표시했다.
침술사들은 인체에 기가 흐르는 12개의 경락과 치료점인 365개 경혈이 있는 것으로 보고 경혈에 침을 놓지만 독일 연구진은 환자들을 세 그룹으로 나누어 한 그룹은 전통방식대로 경혈에 침을 놓고 두번째 그룹은 아무데다 피부만 살짝 찌르는 식으로 최소한의 침을 놓았으며 세번째 그룹에는 아무런 조치도 하지 않았다.
8주에 걸쳐 모두 12회동안 시술을 하고 그 후 4주동안 관찰한 결과 경혈에 침을 맞은 그룹은 머리가 아픈 기간이 7일 줄어들었고 아무데나 맞은 그룹은 6.6일 줄어들어 별 차이가 없는 것으로 나타났다.
아무런 조치를 취하지 않은 그룹도 두통 증상이 1.5일 줄었다. 시험 대상자들은 평소 한 달에 최소한 8일간 두통 증상을 겪는 긴장성 두통 환자들이었다.
연구진은 최소한의 침 치료 만으로도 놀라운 효과가 나타났으며 최소한의 침을 사용해 얕게 찌른 침도 엇비슷한 효과가 나타났다면서 이는 위약 사용시 나타나는 플라시보 효과보다 강력한 것이라고 말했다.
지난 해에도 302명의 여성 편두통 환자들을 대상으로 한 비슷한 연구에서 비슷한 결과가 나온 적이 있다.
한편 런던동종요법병원이 잦은 두통을 앓는 400명의 환자를 대상으로 12차례 침술 치료를 한 결과 1년 후 대부분의 환자들은 두통도 줄어들었고 병원을 찾은 횟수와 투약횟수, 그리고 결근 횟수가 모두 줄어든 것으로 나타났다.
youngnim@yna.co.kr
(끝)
연합뉴스 2005/07/30 11:02 송고
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Traditional Chinese acupuncture may have no point, research finds
By Jeremy Laurance, Health Editor
Published: 29 July 2005
Acupuncture can halve the incidence of headaches among people who are susceptible to them, scientists report today.
But it remains an open question whether traditional acupuncture carried out according to the principles of the ancient Chinese practice is necessary. Researchers found that sticking pins in randomly over the body so they just penetrated the skin was equally effective.
Scientists in Germany who carried out one of the largest studies into the alternative therapy found patients who received acupuncture had seven fewer days with headaches over the four weeks following treatment.
Acupuncturists say there are 365 pressure points that must be stimulated for the therapy to heal. These are said to tap into a dozen body energy channels, or meridians. But patients who had the minimal acupuncture, with randomly placed needles, had 6.6 fewer days with headaches following treatment, an improvement almost equal to that for the traditional acupuncture group.
Both groups received 12 sessions of the therapy over eight weeks. A third group, who received no treatment, had 1.5 fewer days with headaches in the four weeks following the trial.
There were 270 patients in the study in total who had reported suffering tension headaches at least eight days a month.
Writing in the British Medical Journal, the researchers from the Centre for Complementary Medicine Research at the University of Munich say the effectiveness of the "minimal" acupuncture is "intriguing". Even though fewer needles were used and they were inserted less deeply than in traditional acupuncture, their physiological effect cannot be considered "completely inert". Alternatively, the therapy may have produced a placebo effect more potent than that associated with drugs, they suggest.
The study is the latest to suggest that "minimal" or "sham" acupuncture is as good as the real thing. A study last year of 302 mostly female migraine patients found both methods were equally effective in reducing attacks.
An earlier study, published in the BMJ last year, also found evidence for the effectiveness of acupuncture as a treatment for headaches and migraines. A trial organised by the Royal London Homeopathic hospital involving 400 patients with frequent head-aches found their headaches sharply reduced after 12 sessions of acupuncture.
The patients were mainly women who had been taking three or four paracetamol a day, on average, before the study. A year later, having had 12 acupuncture sessions, they had fewer headaches, made fewer visits to the GP, used less medication and took less time off sick.
But sceptics remain. At least 26 randomised controlled trials had previously been published showing no convincing effect of acupuncture on headaches.
출처 ; Independent 인터넷 판
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