Stick it in your ear: auriculotherapy

by Barbra Williams Cosentino RN, CSW

The ear is a useful body part. Its a display case for your favorite pair of earrings, a willing receptacle for the sweet murmurs of your beloved, a great hiding place for the penny that emerges as the magician astounds his audience.

And, according to the principles of ear acupuncture, or auriculotherapy, the ear is also an amazing structural map of the body.

In the 1950s, French neurologist Paul Nogier, MD, discovered that different areas and organs of the body correspond to specific points on the human ear. And therefore, he determined, stimulating certain parts of the ear could relieve symptoms in their complementary body parts. It was then, more than 4000 years after ancient Oriental physicians used ear needling to relieve various medical disorders, that modern auriculotherapy was born.

Dr. Nogiers findings were embraced by Chinese acupuncturists, and in 1960 the Nanking Army Ear Acupuncture Research Team conducted their own studies on over 2000 patients. These studies verified the French physicians findings and discovered some additional points not noted in his original auricular charts.

Auriculotherapy is a form of acupuncture in which the external ear is stimulated for the diagnosis and treatment of health conditions in other parts of the body, explains Terry Oleson, PhD, president of the Center for Oriental Medical Research and Education, and chairperson of the Department of Psychology and the Division of Behavioral Medicine at the California Graduate Institute.

The ear can be stimulated by the insertion of acupuncture needles, by manual pressure (known as auricular acupressure or ear reflexology), or by the electrical stimulation of the surface of ear reflex points. Acupoints on the ear can also be stimulated with magnets, ear pellets, or bioelectrical acupuncture equipment such as the Nogier auriculotherapy treatment device, which uses DC electricity or laser energy.

Oriental medicine believes that pain, disease, or dysfunction is due to a blockage of qi (pronounced "chee"), which is vital energy that normally flows through the body. The stimulation of acupuncture points is believed to help restore the normal flow of qi, thereby relieving symptoms that resulted from its stagnation or blockage.

Acupuncture may also work by activating the secretion of endorphins, the bodys natural pain relievers, or stimulating nerve terminals in the ear, which eventually lead to relaxation. According to another theory the "Gate Control" theory acupuncture may alleviate pain by altering the parts of the nervous system involved with the transmission of nerve impulses, which would typically be interpreted as pain.

Scientists at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) investigated the ear as a marker for the healthfulness of the rest of the body. A controlled, double-blind study showed that physicians could determine the presence of musculoskeletal pain, such as a back injury or fractured bone, merely by examining the auricles of the ear. The doctors found that auricular points corresponding to the part of the body where pain originated showed greater tenderness and electrical conductivity compared with surrounding areas of the ear.

Subsequent research, both at UCLA and in labs across the U.S. and internationally, have explored the possible benefits of auriculotherapy. These include the treatment of addiction, and the management of chronic pain, such as myofascial, joint, neuropathic, and sciatic, as well as for dental anesthesia. The World Health Organization has also highlighted the potential of auriculotherapy by sponsoring a series of conferences and work groups.

Drug addiction

The use of auricular acupuncture for drug addiction was pioneered in the 1970s by Michael Smith, MD, Director of the Division of Substance Abuse at Lincoln Hospital in the South Bronx in New York City. Dr. Smith later founded the National Acupuncture Detoxification Association (NADA), an organization that represents experts in chemical dependency as well as Oriental medicine. The NADA protocol, now used in hundreds of substance abuse centers around the world, uses acupuncture in conjunction with more conventional treatment methods to treat both drug and alcohol addiction. For more on auricular acupuncture as a treatment for substance abuse see: "Ten little needles: treating drug addiction with acupuncture."

Alcoholism

Evidence of the efficacy of auricular acupuncture to treat alcoholism is less conclusive. A study of chronic alcoholics in Hennepin County, Minnesota found that those who participated in a trial of auricular acupuncture had half the number of drinking episodes, and half the number of return visits to detoxification facilities, compared with a control group. The study concluded that "recidivism (tendency to relapse) of alcohol and drug addicts decreased from 20-25% to 5% for patients receiving acupuncture detoxification treatments."

Government-funded studies currently underway will yield more definitive information.

Smoking

Although a 1997 National Institutes of Health (NIH) consensus study stated that "Acupuncture does not demonstrate efficacy for cessation of smoking," researchers at the University of Oslo released a study that same year showing that ear electroacupuncture helped motivated smokers quit or at least decrease their cigarette consumption.

After three weeks, 75% of the volunteers receiving twice-weekly acupuncture sessions smoked significantly fewer cigarettes, while only 39% of those in the control group reported such reductions in their smoking. By the end of the study, 31% of those in the acupuncture group had quit smoking completely while no one in the control group had quit.

Auriculotherapy may also be useful in treating obesity. According to a 1998 report published in the journal Medical Acupuncture, patients on a weight loss program that combined a high protein diet with auriculomedicine unanimously reported that ear acupuncture suppressed their appetite for several days after each treatment and greatly decreased their urge to binge or overeat.

The ancient art of auriculotherapy is another example of how listening to and balancing the body can help to manage chronic pain, substance abuse, and other common medical problems.