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German researchers have found that applying magnets to the temporoparietal cortex can have a positive effect on tinnitus or constant ringing in the ears.
Most of the patients reported that the noise in their heads diminished briefly when the magnets stimulated an area called the left temporoparietal cortex, which contains several regions known to be involved in the processing of sound.
TCM's meridian theory uses the Gall Bladder meridian to treat some forms of tinnitus as it can often carry internal wind upward into the head which can explain some stress induced forms of tinnitus or sudden hearing loss. Additionally, the Gall Bladder meridian directly enters the ear and can be needled in order to address many different forms of tinnitus.
Applying magnets to the Gall Bladder meridian where it intersects the left temporoparietal cortex seems like a very safe therapy that would be worthy of the notice of TCM practitioners everywhere.
Acupuncture points that most closely fall near the left temporoparietal cortex include GB 10, GB 11, both of which have traditional functions to address hearing issues, plus GB 16, 17, and 18. Points that are local to the ear that address hearing loss include GB 2, San Jiao 21 (GB and San Jiao are considered two ends of the same channel) and Small Intestine 19.
(link) [nytimes.com]
A researcher at the Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School has discovered an enzyme in the worm that changes the lining of blood vessels from "Velcro" to "Teflon" - in other words, greatly reduces the tendency of blood cells to stick to the sides and cause blockage.
Researchers also speculate that this effect is directly related to reducing inflammatory responses leading to heart and circulatory disease by helping convert inflammatory Omega-6 fatty acid to anti-inflammatory Omega-3.
In Oriental Medicine, Lumbricus (Di Long - literally "earth dragon"), earthworm, is used in herbal formulas to reduce internal wind - a common etiology for high blood pressure. Modern research of this remedy confirms that it also helps reduce high levels of cholesterol.
A secondary use of Di Long is as an anti-rheumatic herb. The premise behind arthritic pain, according to TCM, is that something is stagnating the flow of Qi in the channels which gives rise to pain. Di Long Lumbricus (earthworm) spends its days burrowing through the earth, in essence, opening up a channel for itself to slither. It is this channel opening property that enables Di Long Lumbricus to open the channels to stimulate the flow of Qi and address arthritic pain.
Apparently it is this channel opening property that enables the lowly earthworm to show promise in opening the channels of the heart as a promising therapeutic agent for heart disease as well.
Di Long is salty and cold in nature, helping to reduce various types of inflammatory responses, including Hot Asthma, Hot Lin (burning urination) Syndrome and Heat-caused seizures and convulsions. It is also used to help reduce stiffness caused by Bi Syndrome (arthritis) and Wind Stroke (CVA).
(link) [sciencedaily.com]
Researchers at Dartmouth have discovered the area of the brain that processes music is also the area that's active during reasoning and memory retrieval. TCM associates the Earth Element (Spleen/Stomach) with the "Yi" which is in charge of the ability to think and remember clearly. The Earth Element also relates to the "sound" of singing & music. One of the pathologies of the Earth Element is going over an idea (or song) repeatedly in your head. It is often associated with an excessive fondness for sweets - the "taste" of the Earth Element. Think about that for a while...
(link) [sciencedaily.com]
The November 28 2002 edition of the New England Journal of Medicine reports a relationship between gait abnormalities in the elderly and the development of non-Alzheimer’s (mostly vascular) type dementia.
TCM says that the Liver and Kidneys have the same mother. This theoretical statement of fact can help to explain this relationship between movement disorders and pathologies effecting the central nervous system. The Liver is said to rule the tendons and sinews and is implicated in many movement disorders, while the Kidneys are said to rule the "Sea of Marrow" or the central nervous system.
Because they have the same mother, pathologies of one organ will often travel to the other organ. Movement disorders leading to problems of the CNS are not uncommon.
There are at least three different possible causes for a gait issue arriving with dementia.
There is the "Kidney Liver Same Mother" perspective as described above, there is a Liver Blood deficiency, or Liver Blood deficiency with Kidney Jing deficiency.
This research could also be explained solely as a Liver problem in that the movement disorder is a lack of Liver Blood nourishing the tendons. It is this same Blood deficiency that can give rise to dementias more obviously related to the biomedical observations of vascular type dementia where the blood simply can't rise to the brain to give it the nourishment it needs leading to damage of the nervous tissue there.
Finally, in some cases of Liver Blood deficiency, we also have a Kidney Jing deficiency. Liver Blood and Kidney Jing are interchangable and often transform into the other. There are an entire category of herbs that enter both the Liver and the Kidneys that nourish both the Kidney Jing and Liver Blood. This last idea too can take us back to the Liver and Kidneys have the same mother. Jing is the precurser to bone marrow and gray matter. Shen the Jing is deficient, there arive pathologies of the brain.
Four ways to describe one observation. Is TCM completely flaky or would further examination of the patients in this study discover four different mechanisms for dementia associated with gain abnormalties?
(link) [New England Journal of Medicine]