A Study On The Neurophysiological Mechanisms Of The Acupuncture-induced Muscle Activities & Establishment Of A Quantitative Method Of The Acupuncture Stimulus

It is believed that the special sensations evoked by acupuncture and their propagation along the meridian pathway are related to the activities of muscle. In present study , EMG records revealed that acupuncture of a local region (neuromuscular compartment) in medial gastrocnemius of cat could elicit the asynchronous EMG activities, firstly occurring in own compartment, secondly adjacent compartments and then distal ones. It seemed that the tonic activities of local muscle compartment could spread from the stimulated region to the remote parts gradually. The time characteristics of such a "spread" was similar to that of the special "sense propagation " on susceptible persons while acupuncture. After cutting off all the branches of the muscle nerve but leaving only one branch intact, EMG elicited by weak stretching tendon was recorded only from the compartment with innervation , however the efferent action potential of the fine filament from the proximal end of the cut nerve would also be elicited with greater stretching . The actions were stopped in an inverse order when withdraw from stretching . It was found from EMG that muscle activities could also be excited by electrical stimulation of the cutaneous nerve branch of the skin covering the tested muscle with certain strength, while the congenerous muscles and the ipsolateral flexor muscles kept rest on the same time.These findings suggest that: 1 Reflexive stretch activities of the local muscle by needle stimuli is a main factor that produces the muscle activities under acupuncture and 2. the afferent activities of the skin covering the muscle can facilitate reflexively the activities of the muscle.The Friction Coupler was designed to transmit the driving force from motor controlling stimulating needle. The needle would stop rolling to maintain the friction effect between the needle and tested tissue when this friction moment come to the driving moment of the friction coupler. Because needle stimulation to the tissue result in the friction force between them, this method makes a possibility in "local quantified mechanical stimulus" to...