Changes in electrical skin resistance at acupuncture points—General overview and current findings

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Background

The hypothesis that electrical skin resistance is lower at acupuncture points (APs) and meridians was brought forward in the 1950s. Subsequently, devices were developed that measured skin resistance not only to locate APs, but also for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes. However, recent meta-analysis has shown that the available evidence on this topic is by no means as clear as has been generally assumed [Ahn AC et al. Bioelectromagnetics, 2008]. The aim of our study was thus to use an innovative measurement technique to examine whether changes in skin resistance can be detected at APs.

Methods

Skin resistance measurements were made at APs Pe6, 3E5, Lu6, Ma36, Gb39, and Mi6 in healthy subjects. Measurements were also made at Gb34 and Ma38 in subjects after hip, shoulder, or eye surgery (as surgery control group) and compared with healthy subjects. Gb34 is typically used to treat hip complaints, and Ma38 to treat shoulder complaints. Measurements were made using a device with 64 electrodes covering an area of 6 cm×6 cm, eliminating the most common sources of error encountered in measuring electrical skin resistance.

Results

A total of 631 measurements were made in healthy subjects and evaluated for changes in skin resistance. In total, 37.2% of the measurements showed significant changes in skin resistance at the investigated APs compared to the surrounding area. To evaluate symptomatic skin resistance changes, a total of 445 measurements were made at APs Gb34 and Ma38. At Gb34, significant changes in skin resistance were observed between the AP and surrounding area in 33% of measurements in control subjects, 41% of measurements in the eye-surgery group (surgery control), and 39% of measurements in the hip surgery group. At Ma38, significant differences were observed in 40% of measurements in the control group, 39% of measurements in the eye-surgery group (surgery control), and 36% of measurements in the shoulder-surgery group. There were no significant differences between the individual groups.

Conclusion

The majority of our measurements did not show any significant changes in skin resistance at the APs compared to the surrounding areas of skin. Electrical skin resistance at points Gb34 and Ma38 does not appear to be influenced by acute trauma (surgery) of the hip or shoulder. Overall, however, the percentage of significant changes at the investigated APs ranged from 35% to 40%, which is thus a promising sign for further research on this topic. At the same time, our findings indicate that the use of skin resistance measurements for diagnosis and treatment recommendations should be regarded with scepticism.

This study is supported by the Deutschen Ärztegesellschaft für Akupunktur e.V. (DÄGfA).
References

[2]Wiegele et al. (2006) Forsch Komplementarmed.

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