Background: Obesity is a chronic condition defined as excess body fat which is diagnosed based on body mass index, abdominal circumference, and is associated with an increased risk of various diseases. Conservative management is often hard to comply with, unsuccessfully, and expensive, while acupuncture with its variety of modalities can be an option.
Case: A therapy with polydioxanone thread embedding on acupuncture points along with other acupuncture modalities were performed in three cases of obese patients according to their etiology and conditions.
Results: Based on the three cases of obese patients with PDO thread embedding acupuncture alone or combined with cupping, plum blossom and moxibustion modalities are beneficial in decreasing abdominal circumference. The effect after 2 months follow up respectively using abdominal circumference measurement 5 cm above the umbilicus -2 cm ( from 110 to 99cm);- 3 cm (from 90 to 87 cm); -8 cm (from 88 to 80 cm), umbilicus to umbilicus -6 cm (from 107 to 101 cm); 10 cm (from 103 to 93 cm); 7 cm (from 93 to 86 cm), 5 cm below umbilicus -1 cm (from 106 to 105 cm); -5 cm (from 107.5 to 102.5 cm); -6 cm (from 104 to 98 cm). No serious side effects occurred in the three cases.
Conclusion: PDO thread embedding can be beneficial in treating obese patients. However, these results require further research.
Labyrinthitis is an inflammatory disease of the inner ear perilymphatic cavity and the most common cause of prolonged spontaneous vertigo. Other symptoms are tinnitus and sensorineural hearing loss. Acupuncture is one of the non-pharmacological therapeutic modalities to improve symptoms of labyrinthitis. A 54-year-old woman complained of vertigo that is preceded by tinnitus in both ears since the last 6 months. She was diagnosed with labyrinthitis. Had taken amoxicillin and decadryl for 5 days, betaserc and dimenhydrinate when she felt dizzy, and amlodipine as a routine drug for her hypertension. Physical examination showed vital signs within normal limits, grade 2 obesity, positive Romberg test, and THI score 18. Manual acupuncture was performed at acupoints GV20, GB20, TE17, TE21, SI19, GB2, GB8, TE5, LI4, KI3, PC6 and LR3 with 20 minutes retention. After the first therapy, vertigo complaints disappeared and after 12 treatments (twice a week), frequency and intensity of tinnitus became less, with THI score of 6. Therefore, acupuncture can relieve vertigo and improve tinnitus which can be seen by a decrease of THI score.
Keywords: acupuncture, labyrinthitis, tinnitus, vertigo
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