ACUPUNCTURE IS A HOLISTIC ALTERNATIVE TO TREAT PAIN
Pain is a sensation triggered in the nervous system. It may be sharp or dull, intermittent or steady, localized (like back pain) or generalized (like fibromyalgia). Occasionally pain can last for weeks, months, or even years, due to an ongoing condition (such as arthritis) or due to abnormal activity in pain-sensing regions of the brain.Acupuncture is effective in treating acute as well as chronic musculoskeletal pain like:
low back pain • neck and shoulder pain • osteoarthritis • bulging/herniated discs
frozen shoulder • tennis elbow • plantar fascitis • auto accident
With acupuncture treatment there is:
- decrease in the intensity and duration of pain
- decreased consumption of analgesic and anti-inflammatory drugs.
- no adverse effects,
- improved quality of sleep,
- decreased anxiety and depression
Studies on Acupuncture and Low Back Pain
In a German study, 1,162 adults with chronic, lower back pain were divided into 2 groups, one treated with the medications and exercise therapy and the other with acupuncture.
Acupuncture provided relief and lasting benefit in 48% of patients as compared to 27% in the drugs and exercise group. (Archives of Internal Medicine 2007; 167:1892-1898)
Researchers from the University Of Maryland School Of Medicine analyzed 33 studies covering more than 2,100 patients from around the world on acupuncture for low back pain. They found acupuncture provided definite pain relief for three weeks after the end of the acupuncture sessions. (http://www.umm.edu/news/releases/back_pain.htm)
A large, rigorously designed clinical trial reported in May 2009 found that acupuncture and simulated acupuncture were equally effective and both were more effective than conventional treatment for relieving chronic low-back pain. (http://nccam.nih.gov/health/acupuncture/acupuncture-for-pain.htm)
Studies on Acupuncture and Arthritis
The world’s longest and largest clinical trials conducted by The National Institutes of Health to investigate the efficacy of acupuncture showed that Acupuncture can reduce pain and improve mobility in arthritis patients by 40 percent.
A total of 570 patients aged 50 and older with osteoarthritis of the knee took part in this American study. All had suffered significant pain in their knee the month before joining the trial, but had never experienced acupuncture.
By the eighth week, genuine acupuncture patients showed a significant increase in function compared with both the sham treatment and self-help groups. By week 14, they were also experiencing a significant decrease in pain. (http://nccam.nih.gov/research/results/acu-osteo.htm )
In another study 25 percent of arthritis patients who had been scheduled for knee surgery canceled their operations after acupuncture treatment. (Scandinavian Journal of Rheumatology 1997)
In this Scandinavian study, researchers compared acupuncture with advice and exercise for the treatment of osteoarthritis of the hip. Thirty-two patients awaiting a total hip replacement were separated into 2 groups. One group received one 10-minute and five 25-minute sessions of acupuncture, and the other group received advice and hip exercises over a 6-week period.
Patients in the acupuncture group showed significant improvements, while no significant changes were reported in the group that received advice and exercise therapy.
Effectiveness of acupuncture as adjunctive therapy in osteoarthritis of the knee: a randomize, controlled trial.
Berman BM, Lao L, Langenberg P, Lee WL, Gilpin AM, Hochberg MC.
University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland 21207, USA (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez/15611487)