Acupuncture/Electroacupuncture as an Alternative in Current Opioid Crisis
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hinese Journal of Integrative Medicine
Available online at link.springer.com/journal/11655 Journal homepage: www.cjim.cn/zxyjhen/zxyjhen/ch/index.aspx E-mail: [email protected]
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Acupuncture/Electroacupuncture as an Alternative in Current Opioid Crisis Usman Ali, Evhy Apryani, Muhammad Zaeem Ahsan, Rana Muhammad Shoaib, Khalil Ali Ahmad, and WANG Yong-xiang ABSTRACT Opioid drugs are the first line of defense in severe pain but the adverse effects associated with opioids are considered as a serious issue worldwide. Acupuncture/electroacupuncture is a type of Chinese medicine therapy which is an effective analgesic therapy, well documented in animals and human studies. Electroacupuncture stimulation could release endogenous opioid peptides causing analgesia in a variety of pain models. It can be used as an alternative therapy to control the opioid crisis. KEYWORDS analgesia, Chinese medicine, electroacupuncture, acupuncture, opioid crisis
Pain is an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage, or described in terms of such damage. (1) Broadly, pain has been classified into acute (nociceptive) and chronic pain (neuropathic).(2) Acute pain is a normal physiological response after tissue damage which causes the activation of nociceptors. This pain has a distinct cause e.g. post-operative pain.(3) Acute pain is a natural defensive mechanism of the body. Chronic pain persists for a long duration with or without any apparent cause. It is a symbol of pathological alterations in the peripheral and central nervous systems. In chronic pain, there is an imbalance between excitatory and inhibitory networks in the spinal cord which amplify the normal stimuli resulting in hyperalgesia, allodynia, and spontaneous pain. Addressing acute and chronic pain requires different approaches. In acute pain case, different analgesic drugs are being used to overcome the pain, while chronic pain needs a multidisciplinary approach intervention.(4) To combat pain, opioids are the most useful weapon so far, but side-effects such as addiction, constipation, nausea/vomiting, somnolence, and respiratory depression considerably reduce their use. The main aim of opioid research is to discover a more efficient option with fewer side effects.(5) Morphine is known as the gold standard treatment for severe pain, although it also possesses these side-effects.(6,7) The increasing prevalence of chronic pain has raised the clinical use of the opioid drugs.(8) Unintentional drug overdose commonly associated with opioids lead to
respiratory depression and death.(9) The current opioid crisis is a serious problem all over the world. Fighting chronic pain with the conventional tools (opioid drugs, natural or synthetic) is no more a safe option. It is time to develop some safe alternatives to cope with the current emergency.(10) The combination of morphine and electroacupuncture (EA) has been found useful in reducing morphine tolerance and enhancing analgesic effects.(11) EA has been documented for
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