Dr. Agnès Mazic-de Sonis
Pain Clinic Chirec, Chirec, Site Parc Leopold, Brussels, Belgium
Title: Acupuncture East- West from Chronobiology to Neuroscience
Biography
Biography: Dr. Agnès Mazic-de Sonis
Abstract
The last decade a multimodal bio-psychosocial management of pain has been proposed. For patients with chronic pain and/or chronic pain refractory to conservative treatment it is important to assess all factors involved with chronicity. The principles of traditional Chinese medicine link three major themes: nutrition and microbiome, neuroplasticity, and homeostasis while considering the side effects of medication. The improved biological, genetic and epigenetic knowledge has contributed to a better understanding of the acupuncture mechanism. Neuroimaging demonstrate the brain regions activated by acupuncture and also illustrates the differences with sham or placebo. These brain areas are associated with a pain matrix.
In the field of acupuncture research there is a need for a bidirectional approach to acupuncture research, where basic science studies and clinical trials each inform the other.
From the recently published case reports on the management of chronic refractory pain
management, we highlight, the diagnostic steps, the reasoning of the traditional Chinese medicine
that is integrated with the chronobiology purpose and the epigenetics factors involved, thus allowing
a strategy for acupuncture that addresses the chronicity and the modified parameters such as sleep,
nutrition, reactive depression and the different vicious circles induced by chronic pain (peripheral
and central sensitization).
A strategy integrating pharmaco nutritional and acupuncture approach shows as described in literature a better response and tolerance of the treatment, a dose reduction and a significant improvement of the parameters involved with the chronicity.
Keywords: Acupuncture- multimodal treatment - nutrition - chronobiology - pain - integrative medicine.