Objective: Intractable hiccup is a common disease in clinic. It is frequently caused by other diseases, for instance, malignant tumor, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease and postoperative condition. Some patients make so severe hiccup that the bed could be caused to tremble. So they are not able to fall asleep in the night. The purpose of adopting electric needling to treat this disease is to control hiccup without medication.

Methods: Points selection: stomach area for scalp acupuncture, Zusanli (ST.36), Neiguan (PC.6), Gongsun (SP.4), Sanyinjiao (SP.6), Tanzhong (CV17) and Taichong (LR.3) for body acupuncture. Manipulation: The patient takes supine position. Needles of l.5-2 cun in length are used. Transverse acupuncture is applied to stomach area with the needle tip directed posteriorly. This manipulation is also applied to Tanzhong (CV17) with the needle's tip downward. Perpendicular Puncture is applied to the rest points and even tonification & reduction method is performed. After Qi is felt, electric pulse stimulation is applied at a frequency of around 120 pulses per minute. The intensity is restricted to the patient's tolerance. Needles are ratained for 30 minutes. The treament is given once a day.

Results: After 3 times of treatments, among the 59 cases 48 were cured, 9 improved and 2 ineffective. The effective rate is 96.6%.

Conclusion: Traditional Chinese medicine holds that the pathogenesis of hiccup is abnormal ascending and descending of Qi of spleen and stomach, which causes adverse rising of stomach Qi and abnormal movement of diaphragm. The siuation is mainly due to serious and prolonged illness or postoperative condition. Acupuncturing Zusanli (ST.36), Neiguan (PC.6), Gongsun (SP.4), Sanyinjiao (SP.6), Tanzhong (CV 17) and Taichong (LR.3) generates the effect of coordinating the function of spleen and Stomach, relieving the chest stuffiness, subduing the diaphragm, lowering the adverse flow of Qi and stopping hiccup. From the modern medicine's perspective, hiccup is caused by some pathogenic factors that stimulate related area of the cerebral cortex, which incurs the spasm of diaphragmatic muscle. Acupuncturing the stomach area promotes the blood circulation in the related cerebral cortex area, then cause reflex change in the excitability of the diaphragm nerve, resulting in relieving the spasm of diaphragmatic muscle. Based on such mechanism, the author achieved satisfactory effect in the 59 hiccup patients with this method.

By Zhang Hong.