THE SCIENCE OF ACUPUNCTURE

ACUPUNCTURE IS EXCELLENT FOR PAIN.

There have been many studies done on the efficacy of acupuncture in the treatment of pain conditions. Check out the Evidence Based Acupuncture website for in-depth meta-analysis for pain conditions with easy and concise explanations of how acupuncture works.

Acupuncture for Chronic Pain: Update of an Individual Patient Data Meta-Analysis

Read more about Acupuncture for chronic pain from this data meta-analysis published in May, 2018 in the Journal of Pain. Highlights from this study include:

* Acupuncture has a clinically relevant effect on chronic pain that persists over time.

* The effect of acupuncture cannot be explained only by placebo effects.

* Factors in addition to the specific effects of needling are important contributors.

* Referral for acupuncture treatment is a reasonable option for chronic pain patients.

Acupuncture shows evidence of positive effect for following conditions:

• Allergic rhinitis

• Chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting

• Chronic low back pain

• Headache (tension type and chronic)

• Knee osteoarthritis

• Migraine prevention

• Postoperative nausea and vomiting

• Postoperative pain

Acupuncture shows evidence of potential positive effect for these conditions:

• Acute low back pain

• Acute stroke

• Ambulatory anaesthesia

• Anxiety

• Aromatase-inhibitor-induced arthralgia

• Asthma in adults

• Back or pelvic pain during pregnancy

• Cancer pain

• Cancer-related fatigue

• Constipation

• Craniotomy anaesthesia

• Depression (with antidepressants)

• Dry eye

• Hypertension (with medication) 

• Insomnia

• Irritable bowel syndrome

• Labour pain

• Lateral elbow pain

• Menopausal hot flushes

• Modulating sensory preception thresholds

• Neck pain

• Obesity

• Perimenopausal and postmenopausal insomnia

• Plantar heel pain

• Post-stroke insomnia

• Post-stroke shoulder pain

• Post-stroke spasticity

• Post-traumatic stress disorder

• Prostatitis pain / chronic pelvic pain

• Recovery after colorectal cancer resection

• Restless leg syndrome

• Schizophrenia (with antipsychotics)

• Sciatica

• Shoulder impingement syndrome, early stage (with exercise)

• Shoulder pain

• Smoking cessation (up to 3 months)

• Stroke rehabilitation

• Tempromandibular pain (TMJ)

Hopper Koppelman DAc, MSc, Msc, Mel.  “Acupuncture: An overview of Scientific Evidence.”  www.evidencebasedacupuncture.org.  McDonald, John, and Stephen Janz, 2017.  Accessed October 18, 2018.