Acupuncture Department

The Acupuncture Department of the First Affiliated Hospital of Tianjin University of Chinese Medicine is the only National Traditional Chinese Medicine Acupuncture Clinical Research Center in the country (2019). It is the largest acupuncture clinical research and teaching base and international exchange center in China. It has a high-level innovation team with Academician Shi Xuemin as the core, and has achieved a number of acupuncture innovations with the greatest influence and the most widely used domestic and foreign results. There are more than 800 open beds, with 16,000 discharged patients and 588,000 outpatient visits annually. The clinical acupuncture service capability ranks first in the country, and the overall comprehensive strength leads the country. This discipline is a key discipline of the Ministry of Education (2002), a key discipline of the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine (2001), and a "top priority" discipline in Tianjin (2005). It has been successively established as a national acupuncture specialist medical center (1997), a national clinical research base of traditional Chinese medicine (2008), a national key clinical specialty construction unit of the Ministry of Health (2011), and a regional TCM diagnosis and treatment center of the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine (2018).Academician Shi Xuemin created the theory of "refreshing the brain and resuscitation", proposed a new concept of acupuncture manipulation measurement, won the third prize of the National Science and Technology Progress Award, and was designated as one of the top ten promotion technologies by the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine. He built the "Shi's Stroke Unit", created a series of new acupuncture technologies, and edited national textbooks such as "Acupuncture and Moxibustion". The results have been promoted to many countries and regions around the world. It has hosted 15 consecutive International Acupuncture Congresses, which has had a significant impact around the world. The discipline has always been in a leading position in the field of acupuncture at home and abroad, leading the development of the acupuncture discipline. The subject leader of the subject team is Academician Shi Xuemin. The discipline has a total of 211 medical teaching and research backbones, forming an academic team mainly composed of young and middle-aged people with a reasonable academic structure. Among them, 89 have senior professional titles, 114 have intermediate professional titles; 4 are postdoctoral fellows, 52 have doctorates, and 98 have master's degrees. It has more than 60 outstanding talents at national, provincial and ministerial levels, including academicians of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, masters of traditional Chinese medicine, national-level famous traditional Chinese medicine doctors, experts with outstanding contributions from the Ministry of Health, Tianjin Distinguished Professors, and Tianjin famous traditional Chinese medicine doctors. The team won the title of Innovation Team in the 2011 Ministry of Education’s “Changjiang Scholars and Innovation Team Development Plan” and was the only innovation team in the field of traditional Chinese medicine among the 97 innovation teams selected that year.It has the right to confer doctoral and master's degrees, and has a post-doctoral mobile station in acupuncture. There are 4 postdoctoral co-supervisors, 10 doctoral supervisors, and 46 master's supervisors, forming a mentor group. Many people hold important positions in academic groups, including 1 vice-president of the first-level society, 4 presidents/chairmen of the second-level society, and 17 vice-presidents/vice-chairmen. Research Directions The acupuncture discipline currently has four stable research directions, namely acupuncture treatment of stroke, acupuncture treatment of hypertension, acupuncture treatment of cognitive impairment and acupuncture standardization research. 1. The study of acupuncture treatment of stroke is the characteristic key research direction of this discipline. The theoretical and technical system of "Xingnao Kaiqiao" acupuncture method has been established. According to the characteristics of each stage of stroke, different acupoint allocation and surgical techniques have been used to create a complete set of stroke treatment plans, forming a "Xingnao Kaiqiao" acupuncture method. "Shi's Stroke Unit" is a complete and standardized stroke diagnosis and treatment management model with traditional Chinese medicine characteristics, focusing on "Kaiqiao Acupuncture" and "Danqi Hemiplegia Capsules", combined with rehabilitation training, diet, psychology, health education and other therapies. It is an improvement and supplement to the concept of "Stroke Unit". "Xingnao Kaiqiao Acupuncture Method" was established as a promotion project by the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine in 1998. In 2012, it was included in the "Promotion Results Database of the Science and Technology Benefiting the People Plan of the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Ministry of Finance".Relevant research results have won the third prize of the National Science and Technology Progress Award, the second prize of the State Education Commission’s Science and Technology Progress Award (Category C), and the first prize of the Tianjin Science and Technology Progress Award, and have been included in the planning textbook for colleges and universities of traditional Chinese medicine (sixth edition) "Acupuncture Therapeutics" and the new century national undergraduate planning textbook for colleges and universities of traditional Chinese medicine "Acupuncture and Moxibustion". On the basis of the "Xingnao Kaiqiao acupuncture method" for the treatment of stroke, we continue to explore and innovate, conduct research on stroke complications and sequelae, and establish the "Tongguanliqiao" acupuncture method to treat post-stroke dysphagia, "Tiaoshen Kaiqiao" acupuncture method to treat post-stroke depression, and "Meridian Acupuncture Method" "Treatment of spastic paralysis, "regulating the mind and tongfu" acupuncture to treat post-stroke constipation, "regulating qi and dredging the middle coke" acupuncture to treat post-stroke indigestion, "regulating water channels" acupuncture combined with electrical stimulation to treat post-stroke urinary incontinence, etc., enriching the connotation of "refreshing the brain and resuscitating the mind". 2. Research on the treatment of hypertension with acupuncture. Academician Shi Xuemin believes that loss of Qi Hai is the main pathogenesis of hypertension, and created the acupuncture antihypertensive method of "activating blood and dispersing wind, soothing the liver and strengthening the spleen". This acupuncture method uses Renying, Hegu, Taichong, Quchi and Zusanli as the main points, with strictly fixed acupoint selection prescriptions and clear manual and quantitative standards.In recent years, clinical research has been carried out on acupuncture to regulate essential hypertension to prevent and treat stroke, providing scientific clinical parameters for the impact of different twisting techniques on the meridian specificity of meridian effects; and elucidating the mechanism of acupuncture intervention in hypertension from the perspectives of the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system, vascular endothelial system and differential proteins. 3. Research on acupuncture in the treatment of cognitive impairment mainly studies the theory, methods and mechanisms of acupuncture in preventing and treating Alzheimer's disease. For cognitive impairment after stroke, a treatment method based on "refreshing and replenishing the brain, regulating the mind and improving the intelligence" has been established. Since Kyoto University in Japan successfully introduced the Rapid Aging Mice (SAM) series, it is the first time in China to introduce and successfully cultivate an internationally recognized and ideal series of aging model animal strains, filling a gap in my country's medical experimental animal strains. It is the first in the world to use this model animal to carry out experimental research on acupuncture to delay brain aging, and to conduct clinical research on acupuncture to treat Alzheimer's disease. 4. Standardized research on acupuncture Academician Shi Xuemin creatively proposed the concept of acupuncture technique quantification, and established the four major elements of acupuncture techniques such as the direction of acupuncture force, size, operation time, and interval between two acupunctures, making traditional acupuncture techniques develop towards standardization and standardization.Clinical and animal experiments were carried out on key quantitative parameters, and a standardized methodological system for quantitative research on acupuncture manipulations was gradually formed, and scientific and objective evaluation standards for dose-response laws were established, which effectively promoted the international spread and in-depth development of the acupuncture discipline. In response to the problem of unclear indications in the acupuncture industry, this discipline first proposed the concept of acupuncture disease spectrum in 1999. The diseases treated by acupuncture are divided into 4 efficacy levels, covering 532 diseases in 16 systems. Acupuncture disease spectrum has been included in 6 acupuncture textbooks and has been introduced into classrooms in more than 20 colleges and universities. Based on the results of the previous research on acupuncture disease spectrum, we will further deepen the research, establish the appropriate diseases for acupuncture and the strength of evidence support through the current distribution of clinical evidence, classify the appropriate diseases for acupuncture into evidence-based grades, and establish an updated evidence-based grade spectrum for appropriate acupuncture diseases based on domestic and foreign clinical evidence. The scientific research achievement talent training discipline has always attached great importance to the cultivation of key members and young reserve talents. It cultivates people through projects, discovers people through work, exercises people through pressure, and influences people through results. It protects talent training from a mechanism and gathers and stabilizes a group of outstanding innovative talents.Through measures such as sending out and inviting in, we focus on cultivating comprehensive talents, clinical research professionals and talents inherited by famous veteran traditional Chinese medicine practitioners, making the team's talent construction fruitful and further improving the team's academic level and innovation capabilities. Through deepening the exploration of talent training models, we have explored a talent training path with the characteristics of traditional Chinese medicine and acupuncture through years of practice. "Opening up new teaching methods and cultivating new acupuncture talents" has won the first prize for national outstanding teaching achievements in ordinary universities and the first prize for outstanding teaching achievements in ordinary universities in Tianjin. The development prospects of the discipline closely revolve around the national overall strategy for the development of traditional Chinese medicine science and technology, taking the construction of the National Traditional Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture Clinical Medical Research Center as an opportunity to continuously enhance the overall strength of the discipline, consolidate the status of national key disciplines, and maintain the leading level in the country. Specific contents: (1) Relying on the National Traditional Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture Clinical Medical Research Center, strengthen the construction of disciplinary research platforms and public service platforms, improve the collaborative research network and acupuncture clinical evidence-based database, and create an innovation platform open to domestic and foreign countries. (2) Strengthen the construction of a multidisciplinary talent team, cultivate a group of high-level outstanding talents with important influence in domestic and foreign academic circles, and create a national innovation team that combines clinical and scientific research and is multidisciplinary.(3) Focus on key issues in the development of the acupuncture discipline and form an evidence system for the prevention and treatment of major diseases with acupuncture. Form diagnosis and treatment standards, expert consensus or prevention and treatment guidelines based on evidence-based evidence to standardize clinical practice. (4) Carry out academic exchanges and promote the results of multi-channel acupuncture characteristic techniques to improve the social service capabilities of acupuncture. "Look to China for acupuncture in the world, and look to Tianjin for acupuncture in China." We will serve the needs of "Healthy China" and the "One Belt, One Road" initiative, build this discipline into the birthplace of new acupuncture technologies, the place to produce results and the place to cultivate talents, and build a world-class acupuncture clinical medical research and transformation and promotion center.