Adnkronos Milan, April 30 (Adnkronos Salute) – There is an invisible thread that connects Beijing to Siena. It is a therapeutic technique that aims to merge the ancient oriental practice of acupuncture with neuroscience, neuro-acupuncture. The Tuscan city of the Palio will become its capital for 3 days: it will host the second 'Italian Days of Neuro-Acupuncture', attracting experts from all over the world – announce the promoters of the initiative – from China, Japan, India, Vietnam, Australia, the United States, Brazil and Europe.
Objective: to discuss the latest developments in pathologies such as Parkinson's, stroke, dementia, autism. The event is from May 9 to 11 at the Accademia dei Fisiocritici, the venue of the event organized by Ami (Integrated Medical Acupuncture), an association of doctors and patients founded in 2018. The program includes workshops, seminars, presentations of studies and clinical cases on neurological pathologies.
The basic idea is that "millimeter needles, applied to precise points of the head and ears, can reawaken neural connections" and help "reactivate motor and cognitive functions", as stated in a note. Interest is growing, experts say. According to the latest Istat data, over 2 million Italians rely on acupuncture. A figure that according to Ami is "destined to grow, especially in the neurological field". And Siena is preparing to host a global debate on the topic.
It is, says Cecilia Lucenti, acupuncturist and president of Ami, "pure neurophysiology. Our task now is to integrate it into public health, not leave it on the sidelines. In Italy every acupuncturist by law is also a doctor: a double competence that guarantees accurate diagnoses and the inclusion of Eastern techniques in rigorous scientific protocols. It is no longer a question of choosing between East and West, but of joining forces for the good of the patient in a single medicine. Applied neurology with another grammar: that of the body as an intelligent system, capable of self-repair if stimulated in the right places and in the right ways".
Neuro-acupuncture – the note describes – is a discipline born in the 1950s from the study of acupuncture in the light of neuroscience, which "merges Chinese and Japanese craniopuncture, classical acupuncture and neuro-auriculotherapy codified by French neurophysiologists". Its applications "are spreading throughout the world". Ami explains that it has been a trailblazer in Italy with the Advanced Training Course at the University of Siena, the agreement with the Volterra Ricerche Foundation, the one with Lilt for pediatric neuro-acupuncture and the publication of 'Stories of neurological acupuncture' for the newly founded Edizioni Ami. "Initiatives that have contributed to training a generation of doctors capable of using the needle as a 'surgical' instrument of the nervous system". "We are talking - concludes Lucenti - about a therapeutic technology" that is "easily integrated into the hospital and very low cost. In China and the United States it is already a reality and even insurance companies have started to reimburse it".