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Research Archive

Welcome to our Chinese medicine and acupuncture research news pages. We add to the content of these pages continuously as more research news comes in. Browse through the complete archive below or use the category links on the right.

Please note that the most twenty recent research archive items are free to view but access to the thousands of items in the archive require a journal subscription.

ACUPUNCTURE EFFECTIVE FOR SHOULDER PAIN

Categories: Shoulder

One hundred and thirty patients with shoulder pain (cuff tendonitis, bicipital tendonitis, capsulitis etc.) were randomly assigned to receive either eight weekly true acupuncture treatments (local and distal points plus electro-acupuncture) or the same number of non-penetrating sham treatments (using a stage dagger-type retracting placebo needle) plus sham electro-acupuncture. Blinded assessment b ...

ACUPUNCTURE IMPROVES SHOULDER PAIN CARE

Categories: Shoulder

A multicentre randomised controlled trial conducted in Spain has found that single-point acupuncture in association with physiotherapy improves shoulder function and alleviates pain better than physiotherapy alone. 425 patients with a clinical diagnosis of unilateral subacromial syndrome received 15 sessions of physiotherapy over three weeks and were randomised to additionally receive, once a week ...

ACUPUNCTURE FOR SHOULDER PAIN

Categories: Shoulder

An American single-blind randomised, controlled trial randomised 31 subjects into one of three treatment groups: individualised TCM acupuncture; fixed standard acupuncture points conventionally used for shoulder pain; and non-penetrating sham acupuncture. Subjects received 12 treatments over six weeks. After six weeks of treatment, the mean total Shoulder Pain and Disability Index score improved i ...

ACUPUNCTURE FOR SHOULDER PAIN

Categories: Shoulder

Electroacupuncture (EA) is an effective addition to exercise for the treatment of chronic shoulder pain. In a single-blind, randomised trial in Hong Kong, 60 patients were assigned to receive either active or sham electrical stimulation of acupuncture points on the wrist in addition to standardised neck exercises. Active or sham EA was given for 30 minutes twice weekly over a period of four weeks ...

ACUPUNCTURE EFFECTIVE FOR LABOUR PAIN

Categories: Pregnancy & Labour

A study carried out at Orebro University Hospital in Sweden has found that women who received acupuncture during labour were less likely to ask for an epidural to relieve pain (12% compared to 22%) and felt more relaxed than women who did not receive acupuncture. 46 women were randomised to receive acupuncture during labour, and reported at least once an hour how much pain they were experiencing a ...

ACUPUNCTURE AND LABOUR PAIN

Categories: Pregnancy & Labour

Obstetricians from Norway have said that acupuncture is the analgesic method of choice for reducing labour pain, whether supplemented by pharmacological pain-killers or not. 210 mothers in spontaneous labour were randomly assigned to receive either real acupuncture or false acupuncture. The results were tested by assessing their request for pharmacological pain-relief, and on their perception of p ...

ACUPUNCTURE FOR BACK PAIN IN PREGNANCY

Categories: Pregnancy & Labour

A Brazilian study which compared the levels of low back and pelvic pain in women treated by acupuncture compared to non-treated controls, found that the acupuncture group showed a greater reduction in overall pain, maximum pain and pain at the time of interview, reduced use of analgesics, and greater capacity to perform general activities, to walk and to work. (Acupuncture in Medicine, 2004 ...

ACUPUNCTURE HELPS WITH LABOUR PAIN

Categories: Pregnancy & Labour

Danish clinicians carrying out the largest randomised controlled trial of acupuncture for relief of labour pain have found it to be a good supplement to existing pain relief methods, reducing the need for pharmacological and invasive methods during delivery. A randomised controlled trial was conducted with 607 healthy women in labour at term who received acupuncture, TENS, or traditional analgesic ...

ACUPRESSURE DECREASES POSTOPERATIVE PAIN

Categories: Knee, Post-operative

Patients who received acupressure at fifteen classical acupuncture points after knee arthroscopy suffered less postoperative pain than patients who received sham acupressure (light pressure at non-acupuncture points). For both groups pressure was applied to the contralateral knee (Clin J Pain 1996;12(4):326-9). In another study, auriculotherapy applied to patients after laparoscopic cholecystectom ...

PREOPERATIVE ACUPUNCTURE

Categories: Post-operative

A study has shown that intradermal needles inserted and taped in place prior to upper and lower abdominal surgery can reduce postoperative pain, requirement for analgesics, and opioid-related side effects. The acupuncture can also reduce the activation of the sympathoadrenal system that normally accompanies surgery. The intradermal needles were inserted bilaterally at points Ganshu BL-18 to Qihais ...

PRE-OP ACUPUNCTURE FOR POST-OP PAIN

Categories: Post-operative

Researchers from Taichung in Taiwan have showed that electroacupuncture administered before abdominal surgery significantly reduces the amount of morphine pain-relief required after the operation. 100 volunteers were assigned to 4 groups of 25. One group was given low frequency stimulation (2Hz), another high-EA (100Hz) and in another needles were inserted without electrical stimulation. Bilateral ...

AURICULAR ACUPUNCTURE REDUCES PAIN AFTER KNEE SURGERY

Categories: Knee, Post-operative

The authors of this study investigated the need for postoperative pain medication in 120 patients undergoing knee surgery. Participants randomly received true auricular acupuncture (Lung, Shenmen and Knee points) or a sham procedure (three non-acupuncture points on the auricular helix) on the ipsilateral ear before ambulatory knee arthroscopy. Permanent press needles were retained for one day afte ...

ACUPUNCTURE HELPS POSTOPERATIVE PAIN

Categories: Post-operative

A systematic review has evaluated the efficacy of as an adjunctive treatment for acute postoperative pain management. American authors included 15 RCTs comparing acupuncture with sham control in their analysis. Opioid analgesic consumption, and postoperative pain intensity at 8 and 72h were significantly decreased in the acupuncture group compared with the control group. Acupuncture treatment was ...

ACUPUNCTURE REDUCES POST-TONSILLECTOMY PAIN

Categories: Post-operative

German researchers have compared the use of verum (true) acupuncture in reducing post-tonsillectomy swallowing pain with the use of non-specific control points and standard medication alone. One hundred and twenty three patients received orally administered nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) after tonsillectomy and were asked about their acute pain after taking a sip of water between th ...

ACUPUNCTURE FOR LOW-BACK AND PELVIC PAIN IN PREGNANCY

Categories: Pregnancy & labour, Pelvic, Pregnancy & Labour

Acupuncture may be more effective than physiotherapy for pregnancy-related low-back and pelvic pain, according to a recent prospective study. Sixty pregnant women with low-back and pelvic pain were randomised to receive 10 treatments of either acupuncture (30-minute sessions, given within 1 month) or physiotherapy (50-minute sessions of counselling and physical therapies, given within 6 to 8 weeks ...

ACUPUNCTURE FOR PELVIC AND BACK PAIN IN PREGNANCY

Categories: Pelvic, Pregnancy & Labour

In this Swedish study, 72 pregnant women (24-37 weeks) suffering pelvic or low back pain were randomly assigned to an acupuncture group or a control group. Traditional acupuncture points and ahshi points were needled (with deqi elicited) in individualised treatments, once or twice a week until disappearance of symptoms or delivery in the acupuncture group. Treatment was given for at least three we ...

ACUPUNCTURE & CHRONIC PELVIC PAIN IN MEN

Categories: Male disorders, Pelvic

This Japanese study treated ten men suffering from chronic pelvic pain syndrome (eight of whom had previously received pharmacological medicines without benefit) at a single acupuncture point, Zhongliao BL-33, with the needle retained for ten minutes whilst being rotated manually. Treatment was given weekly for five weeks. At the end of the treatment period, there was significant improvement in ch ...

ACUPUNCTURE EFFECTIVE FOR PELVIC PAIN IN PREGNANCY

Categories: Pelvic, Pregnancy & Labour

One in three women suffer potentially severe and disabling pelvic girdle pain during pregnancy. Now a Swedish study has demonstrated that acupuncture is more effective than either standard or specialised exercises in relieving the pain. 386 pregnant women were assigned to a six-week treatment programme involving either standard home exercise, standard exercise plus acupuncture or specialised exerc ...

ACUPUNCTURE & PELVIC PAIN

Categories: Pelvic, Pregnancy & Labour

Acupuncture has previously been shown to be more effective than either standard or specialised exercises in relieving pelvic pain in pregnancy (BMJ 2005;330:761). Now a new study has compared subcutaneous needling without further stimulation and deep needling with deqi for the same problem. Both groups experienced significant improvements in levels of pain intensity at rest and in daily activities ...

TREATING PELVIC AND BACK PAIN IN PREGNANCY

Categories: Pelvic, Pregnancy & Labour

A systematic review using the Cochrane database has assessed the effects of interventions for preventing and treating back and pelvic pain in pregnancy. Authors searched the Cochrane database for randomised controlled trials of any treatment used to prevent or reduce the incidence or severity of back or pelvic pain in pregnancy. Eight studies (1305 participants from five countries) were included i ...