Focus on Alternative and Complementary Therapies
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Focus Alternat Complement Ther©2005 Pharmaceutical Press
Focus Altern Complement Ther 2004; 9: 327
The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of reducing driving fatigue with magnitopuncture stimuli on Dazhui (DU 14) and Neiguan (PC 6) points using heart rate, reaction time (RT) testing, right rate (RR), critical flicker fusion frequency (CFF) and subjective evaluation. Forty healthy subjects were randomly divided into two groups: study and control. All subjects were required to be well rested before the experiment. The subjects were engaged in high-speed driving at a constant vehicle velocity of 80 km/h continuously for 3 h on a test course simulating an expressway. During the driving magnitopunctures (Haci Five Elements Needle, 250 mT, made by Haci Company Ltd) were applied to the Dazhui (DU 14) and Neiguan (PC 6) points for the study group when the subject performed the task for 2.5 h, and for the control group magnitopunctures were applied to non-acupuncture points during the same time session. The results of this study show a significant effect of magnitopuncture stimuli on RT, RR and CFF. Subjective evaluation also exhibited significant differences between the two groups after the driving task.