Research Article Effects of Combined Far-Infrared Radiation and Acupuncture at ST36 on Peripheral Blood Perfusion and Autonomic Activities Cheng-Chan Yang, 1,2 Gen-Min Lin, 1,3,4 Jen-Hung Wang, 5 Hsiao-Chiang Chu, 1 Hsien-Tsai Wu, 1 Jian-Jung Chen, 6,7 and Cheuk-Kwan Sun 8 1 Department of Electrical Engineering, National Dong Hwa University, Hualien 97401, Taiwan 2 Department of Chinese Medicine, Buddhist Tzu Chi General Hospital, Hualien 97002, Taiwan 3 Department of Medicine, Hualien-Armed Forces General Hospital, Hualien 97144, Taiwan 4 Department of Medicine, Tri-Service General Hospital, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei 114, Taiwan 5 Department of Medical Research, Buddhist Tzu Chi General Hospital, Hualien 97002, Taiwan 6 Department of Chinese Medicine, Taichung Tzu Chi Hospital, Buddhist Tzu Chi Medical Foundation, Taichung 42743, Taiwan 7 School of Chinese Medicine, Tzu Chi University, Hualien 97002, Taiwan 8 Department of Emergency Medicine, E-Da Hospital, I-Shou University, Kaohsiung 82445, Taiwan Correspondence should be addressed to Cheuk-Kwan Sun; lawrence.c.k.sun@gmail.com Received 7 April 2017; Revised 5 July 2017; Accepted 6 July 2017; Published 13 August 2017 Academic Editor: Woojin Kim Copyright © 2017 Cheng-Chan Yang et al. Tis is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Using four-channel photoplethysmography (PPG) for acquiring peripheral arterial waveforms, this study investigated vascular and autonomic impacts of combined acupuncture-far infrared radiation (FIR) in improving peripheral circulation. Twenty healthy young adults aged 25.5±4.6 were enrolled for 30-minute measurement. Each subject underwent four treatment strategies, including acupuncture at ST36 (Zusanli), pseudoacupuncture, FIR, and combined acupuncture-FIR at diferent time points. Response was assessed at 5-minute intervals. Area under arterial waveform at baseline was defned as Area Baseline , whereas Area Stim referred to area at each 5-minute substage during and afer treatment. Area Stim /Area Baseline was compared at diferent stages and among diferent strategies. Autonomic activity at diferent stages was assessed using low-to-high frequency power ratio (LHR). Te results demonstrated increased perfusion for each therapeutic strategy from stage 1 to stage 2 (all  < 0.02). Elevated perfusion was noted for all treatment strategies at stage 3 compared to stage 1 except pseudoacupuncture. Increased LHR was noted only in subjects undergoing pseudoacupuncture at stage 3 compared to stage 1 ( = 0.045). Reduced LHR at stage 2 compared to stage 1 was found only in combined treatment group ( = 0.041). In conclusion, the results support clinical benefts of combined acupuncture-FIR treatment in enhancing peripheral perfusion and parasympathetic activity. 1. Introduction Far-infrared radiation (FIR), which comprises electromag- netic waves of wavelength 3–1000 m [1], possesses physio- logical actions because not only of its high penetrating power in human tissue but also of its ability to elicit both heat- related [2] and nonheat-related [3] biological efects. It has been demonstrated that FIR causes vasodilatation, thereby improving human tissue perfusion [2, 4, 5] and skin microp- erfusion in rats through enhancing the action of endothelial nitric oxide synthase, eNOS, in vascular endothelium [6]. FIR has also been shown to suppress vascular endothelial proliferation and enhance endothelial repair through sup- pressing the action of vascular endothelial growth factor [4, 7, 8]. Besides, improvement of wound healing has also been reported through FIR-induced fbroblast recruitment and collagen disposition [9, 10]. Other demonstrated therapeutic actions of FIR also include the suppression of tumor cell proliferation and spreading [11–14], reduction of intravas- cular lipid deposition and risk of arteriosclerosis [15], and improving sleep quality [16]. Hindawi Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine Volume 2017, Article ID 1947315, 7 pages https://doi.org/10.1155/2017/1947315