In the world of acupuncture, Dr. Helene Langevin is such a celebrity
that even the Chinese have taken notice of her quest to understand
exactly how the ancient healing art works.

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/magazine/articles/2006/11/26/point_ta
ken/

By Stacey Chase | November 26, 2006

Lying on a beige table in the stark orthopedics lab at the University
of Vermont College of Medicine in Burlington, subject after subject
endures the insertion of hair-thin acupuncture needles mid-thigh and
just below the knee, while five researchers monitor a body of
machinery: ultrasound scanner, torque sensor, electrocardiograph, and
laptop, on which the volunteers rate the needling sensations. All
very high-tech, this ongoing study led by Dr. Helene Langevin –
largely aimed at investigating needle torque – is the latest in her
quest to pinpoint the scientific basis behind the Chinese healing art
that has been practiced for millenniums but whose physiology has
never been fully understood. Demystifying acupuncture could
eventually mean better diagnosis and treatment of ailments like
chronic pain. While it's gaining devotees all the time, only an
estimated 4 percent of US adults have tried acupuncture. "Unless we
understand the mechanism of these treatments," Langevin says, "it's
going to be very hard for them to get integrated into our healthcare
system, including insurance reimbursements."

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Sign up for: Globe Headlines e-mail | Breaking News Alerts This third-
generation physician's innovative research into the ancient therapy
has gained nationwide, even worldwide, attention. Last month,
Langevin – an internist and acupuncturist who is a research associate
professor of neurology and orthopedics – won a grant worth an
expected $1.9 million from the National Institutes of Health's
National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, bringing
her grant-funding total over the past seven years to more than $4.4
million. "She's one of the highest-funded acupuncture researchers in
the country," says Ted Kaptchuk, an assistant professor of medicine
at Harvard Medical School and an authority on Chinese medicine. "In
the acupuncture field, she's a celebrity."

Seated at a gray steel desk in her austere, cramped office in the
Given Medical Building, dwarfed by medical tomes and piles of
esoteric articles and abstracts, the pixieish 50-year-old Langevin
analyzes data and cross-sectional ultrasound images of needles
inserted into the tissue of live human subjects and sacrificial rats.
She muses: "It's really like solving a big puzzle, you know?"

As far back as 300 BC, Chinese texts have described acupuncture and
de qi, a reaction to the needling that's thought to be important in
achieving its therapeutic effect. During de qi, the patient usually
experiences a slight ache in the area surrounding the needle, while
the acupuncturist may feel the needle being grasped by the tissue – a
tug often described as akin to a fish biting on a line. Langevin
grabbed headlines when, in 2001, the Journal of Applied Physiology
published the results of a study in which she and her colleagues
quantified de qi's biomechanical component, or needle grasp, by
measuring the force necessary to pull an acupuncture needle out of
the skin. Her findings showed something else: Gently manipulating the
needles back and forth or twisting them increased the grasp
significantly. Since then, Langevin's research has proved that the
connective tissue that winds around acupuncture needles – much like
spaghetti wadded around a fork – is responsible for needle grasp.
Further study has revealed that needle manipulation transmits a
signal to fibroblasts, the cells that make up such tissue, causing
them to spread and flatten. "The needle is, in fact, stretching the
tissue from the inside," Langevin explains. "The tissue is not just
being pulled; it's actively responding to the stimulus."Continued...