Acupuncture for promoting intelligence of children..

OBJECTIVE: To observe the effect of acupuncture on intelligence quotient (IQ) in children with mental retardation (MR). METHODS: One hundred children with MR were randomly divided into an acupuncture group and a control group, 50 in each. There were 37 and 36 cases with complete data in the former and latter group respectively. Four-week treatment constituted a course, the comprehensive therapeutic effect of two groups was compared after 3 courses of treatment, and the influence of acupuncture on IQ was estimated. RESULTS: The total effective rate in the acupuncture group was 78.4%, better than 30.56% in the control group, the difference being significant (P < 0.01). Both groups were improved in IQ but the effect of the former group was better than that of the latter group (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Acupuncture can obviously improve IQ of children suffering from MR.

J Tradit Chin Med. 2010 Sep;30(3):176-9. Tian YP, Qi R, Li XL, Wang YL, Zhang Y, Ji T, Hou CY, Wang LJ. Affiliated Hospital of Gansu College of TCM, Lanzhou, Gansu 730020, China. tianypw@126.com