THE SCIENCE OF ACUPUNCTURE
The Science of Acupuncture
A great resource for the scientific basis of acupuncture and Chinese medicine, in an easy to understand format. Compiled and written by Mel Hopper Koppelman, MSc and team.
ACUPUNCTURE IS EXCELLENT FOR PAIN.
There have been many studies done on the efficacy of acupuncture in the treatment of pain conditions. Check out 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.