Development of Temperature-Controllable Acupuncture System using High-Frequency Electromagnetic Field

Abstract

We developed a temperature-controllable acupuncture (TCA) system incorporating a high-frequency electromagnetic field to reduce the burn risk posed by traditional acupuncture combined with moxibustion method. Our technique can control the acupuncture needle temperature safely and appropriately. We designed a solenoid-type electrode and a 150-kHz high-frequency electromagnetic generator. Regarding the system performance, we found that the time required to reach 42 °C is only 52 seconds compared with traditional acupuncture combined moxibustion method which takes 150–270 seconds. In addition, we conducted a pilot study involving 20 participants to examine the possibility of clinical application. We performed manual acupuncture and TCA on the LI9, LI10, and TE5 acupoints, and only the acupunctures of TCA group were heated using the developed system at 38–40 °C. In addition, we measured the hand-temperature and blood-flow velocity before and after stimulation to determine their variability. The hand temperatures increased after stimulation in both groups, but only the TCA group exhibited a significant difference (p=0.001). The blood-flow velocities of the two groups exhibited different patterns. The blood-flow velocity was increased by 6.3 % for the TCA group (p=0.114), but decreased by -12.78 % for the manual acupuncture group (p=0.011). We found that this new method is not only safe and convenient, but also precise and effective. Moreover, an electromagnetic field has various therapeutic effects and, thus, may induce its own positive benefits.