The acute and long term effects of acupuncture on heart rate variability

Abstract

In a recent study, the possible effect of acupuncture in modulating heart rate variability (HRV) in both healthy and non-healthy subjects were reported, while previous review reported that acupuncture did not have any convincing effect on HRV in healthy subjects. We aimed to reinvestigate the possible helpful effect of acupuncture on HRV parameters and to test the possible differences between acute and long term (20 minutes) acupuncture applications. Twenty nine female subjects were participated in this study. For the acupuncture therapy, HT 7 acupuncture point (shen men) was selected. Acupuncture needle was placed for 1 minute in acute acupuncture application and 20 minutes in long term acupuncture. The recording ECG (HRV) was applied before and after acute and long term acupuncture therapies. Almost all HRV parameters increased after the acute acupuncture and some HRV parameters after the long term acupuncture compared to before therapy in healthy persons. There were no differences between acute and long term applications. These results indicate that acupuncture might be cardio protective and might restore sympathovagal imbalances by stimulating the peripheral nervous system. Also, the long term acupuncture application is not essential for the cardio protective effect.