Health
Relieve Chronic Pain With Acupuncture
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How Acupuncture Benefits Other Symptoms and Conditions
While more research is needed to determine how effective acupuncture is for various conditions, some research shows it may benefit the following:
Vertigo Sixty participants from a hospital’s emergency department were divided into acupuncture and control groups. The researchers analyzed the effect of treating dizziness and vertigo based on data collected from the questionnaires for Dizziness Handicap Inventory and Visual Analog Scale (VAS), along with heart rate variability. They found that acupuncture demonstrated a significant immediate effect in reducing discomforts and VAS of both dizziness and vertigo.
A review that evaluated acupuncture for the treatment of cervical vertigo found that acupuncture may be more effective in improvement of clinical symptoms and average blood flow velocity of the vertebral-basilar artery compared with conventional medicine therapy for cervical vertigo.
Endometriosis Acupuncture improved relief from endometriosis symptoms more than other approaches like exercise, electrotherapy, and yoga, according to a meta-analysis of studies.
Studies have also found that acupuncture can reduce pain from endometriosis along with the blood level of CA-125, a protein associated with the disease. Researchers theorize that as acupuncture seems to promote relaxation, it reduces the muscle tension and stress that come with chronic pain.
Psoriatic Arthritis A case report of one patient with psoriatic arthritis (PsA) found that treatment approaches including acupuncture, turmeric, sarsaparilla root, and vitamin D3 might reduce symptoms of PsA.
Rheumatoid Arthritis In a review of 43 studies on acupuncture and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) conditions, researchers concluded that acupuncture alone or combined with other treatments is beneficial to the clinical conditions of RA without adverse effects, can improve function and quality of life, and is worth trying. They noted benefits such as an anti-inflammatory effect, an antioxidative effect, and the regulation of immune system function. However, according to the researchers, there is inconsistency in the evidence and a lack of well-designed human-animal double-blind, randomized, controlled trials.
Fatigue One study looked at two types of acupuncture and usual care for fatigue. The first group in the trial received Chinese acupuncture plus usual care, the second got Korean acupuncture with usual care, and the third received only usual care. Researchers found that four weeks of acupuncture in addition to usual care could improve fatigue symptoms.
Fibromyalgia When researchers compared acupuncture therapy to sham acupuncture or conventional medication for fibromyalgia in 12 randomized, controlled trials, they found that acupuncture was significantly better than sham acupuncture for relieving pain and improving the quality of life with low- to moderate-quality evidence in the short term. In the long term, acupuncture was superior to sham acupuncture.
Ulcerative Colitis Acupuncture by itself and acupuncture combined with conventional medicine may be effective in treating ulcerative colitis (UC) compared with conventional medicine alone, according to a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials. However, the researchers warned that their findings should be interpreted thoughtfully due to high or unclear risk of bias in the 13 trials they analyzed.
Another review of studies shows why it’s hard to get an overall understanding of the benefits of acupuncture for UC. When researchers looked at 63 studies published between 1995 and 2015, the study designs were varied, such as whether the study analyzed acupuncture as an only therapy, in combination with medication, or in addition to other alternative remedies. Other differences included the placement of the needles on the body, how long treatment continued, and how outcomes were measured.
Although these differences and variability make acupuncture difficult to study, it’s revealing that so many studies and reviews show positive effects.
Crohn’s Disease A research review found that acupuncture, particularly when combined with moxibustion — another therapy from TCM that involves burning herbs on targeted parts of the body to stimulate acupuncture points — can improve quality of life as well as lab measures of Crohn’s disease.
Allergies Acupuncture appeared to significantly reduce the number of days of antihistamine use while improving rhinitis-specific quality of life and seasonal allergic rhinitis symptoms.
Asthma Acupuncture can help with asthma. One study found that patients with allergic asthma who added 15 acupuncture sessions to routine care over the course of three months saw greater improvements in disease-specific and health-related quality of life compared with patients who received only routine care.
A review of research found that acupuncture in addition to asthma treatments led to a statistically significant improvement in symptom response rates and resulted in lower levels of interleukin-6 (IL-6), which the body produces in response to infections and injuries.
Too much IL-6 can contribute to chronic inflammation.
Chronic inflammation is a hallmark of asthma.
Cancer For cancer survivors with chronic musculoskeletal pain, electroacupuncture (electrical stimulation of acupuncture needles after insertion, which is used by some acupuncture practitioners depending on their training and style of practice) reduced average pain severity scores and improved physical and mental quality of life.
In a meta-analysis of studies, researchers found that acupuncture or acupressure lowered pain intensity for cancer pain. Moreover, some studies suggested that acupuncture for cancer patients taking opiate pain medications could lead to a reduction in their use.
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center states that acupuncture is safe and effective for treating side effects of cancer treatment such as:
A review and meta-analysis of studies found that acupuncture rarely causes serious adverse effects.
Weight Loss Some small studies may show that acupuncture helps with weight loss.
And a review of studies found that acupuncture may be an effective treatment for obesity when used with dietary interventions. Yet the researchers noted that the evidence is not fully convincing because of the poor methodological quality of the trials reviewed and called for higher quality studies to determine acupuncture’s effect on obesity.
Sexual Function There is not much research on acupuncture and sexual health. However, one small study of women and men with sexual dysfunction found that at the end of nine sessions of acupuncture, women reported improved libidos, and men experienced improvement in multiple sexual functions, including erection, timing of ejaculation, and ability to orgasm.
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