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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.

ELECTROACUPUNCTURE FOR DOGS DISKS

Categories: Back

Electroacupuncture is an effective treatment for intervertebral disk disease in dogs. Fifty dogs with signs of thoracolumbar intervertebral disk disease were randomly allocated to receive either electroacupuncture stimulation combined with standard W ...

ACUPUNCTURE TWICE AS GOOD FOR CHRONIC LOW BACK PAIN

Categories: Back

Another result from the large multi-centre German Acupuncture Trials (GERAC), suggests that both real and sham acupuncture are much more effective against chronic low back pain than conventional therapy. The patient- and observer-blinded randomised controlled trial involved 340 outpatient practices, including 1162 patients aged 18-86 years (average 50) with a history of chronic low back pain lasti ...

ACUPUNCTURE REDUCES MEDICAL EXPENSES FOR LOW BACK PAIN

Categories: Back

A Japanese team has investigated the effect of acupuncture on perceived pain, mood disturbances and medical expenses related to low back pain (LBP) among employees of a steel company. In the intervention study, seventy-two workers, mean age 53, received acupuncture once a week. After eight weeks of treatment, patients with LBP reported diminished pain and showed a significant decrease in total moo ...

ACUPUNCTURE BENEFITS LOW BACK PAIN

Categories: Back

Authors from Northern Ireland have published a systematic review that supports the use of acupuncture as a treatment for low back pain (LBP). Twenty-three trials involving 6359 participants were included in the meta-analysis. The authors conclude that there is moderate evidence that acupuncture is more effective than no treatment, and strong evidence of no significant difference between acupunctur ...

ACUPUNCTURE BETTER THAN STANDARD CARE FOR BACK PAIN

Categories: Back

A large American study has concluded that acupuncture for back pain results in persistent clinically meaningful improvement, which is better than that achieved with standard care. A group from Seattle carried out a large randomised controlled trial of acupuncture for chronic lower back pain (cLBP), comparing individualised acupuncture with standardised acupuncture, simulated acupuncture and usual ...

ACUPUNCTURE QUICKLY IMPROVES CHRONIC LOW BACK PAIN

Categories: Back

A pilot study designed to test the feasibility of a randomised controlled trial comparing the effectiveness of two frequencies of acupuncture treatment for chronic low back pain (LBP) has found that clinical improvements achieved within the first two weeks were maintained at one year follow-up. Thirty participants with chronic LBP were randomised into two groups to receive 10 acupuncture treatment ...

AURICULAR ACUPUNCTURE FOR LOW BACK & PELVIC PAIN IN PREGNANCY

Categories: Back

One week of continuous auricular acupuncture decreases the pain and disability experienced by women with pregnancy-related low back and posterior pelvic pain. In a randomised controlled trial, American clinicians randomly assigned pregnant women to continuous auricular acupuncture, sham auricular acupuncture or a waiting list control. All participants were monitored for two weeks. Participants in ...

ACUPUNCTURE BETTER THAN INJECTIONS FOR BACK PAIN

Categories: Back

Japanese researchers have found acupuncture to be superior to injection of local anaesthetic for the treatment of lower back pain. Twenty six patients were randomly allocated to either acupuncture or local anaesthetic injection at two to five of the most painful points on the lower back once per week for four weeks. Both injection and acupuncture relieved pain, but there was a significant differen ...

BACK PAIN? TELL ME ABOUT YOUR CHILDHOOD

Categories: Back

A British author has suggested that the effect of acupuncture treatment on low back pain may be determined by the quality of the relationship between the patient and their mother during the first 18 months of their life. Previous authors have suggested that activation of C tactile afferent nerve fibres, which respond to light touch and project to the brain's limbic system, can induce a 'limbic tou ...

ACUPUNCTURE AND WEIGHT LOSS

Categories: Obesity

It is known that acupuncture stimulates the auricular branch of the vagal nerve and raises serotonin levels, both of which have been shown to increase tone in the smooth muscle of the stomach, thus suppressing appetite. The aim of this Australian study was to determine the effectiveness of transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) of specific auricular acupuncture points on appetite suppr ...

Ear acupuncture for weight loss

Categories: Obesity

In a study carried out in a psychiatric hospital, 45 patients with psychoactive-drug-induced obesity and 44 obese patients not taking such medication were randomised to receive either ear acupuncture, sham acupuncture or ear acupuncture plus physical exercise sessions. In both the drug and no-drug induced obesity groups, those who received true ear acupuncture lost weight (2.6kg average) whilst th ...

ELECTROACUPUNCTURE TREATMENT OF OBESITY

Categories: Obesity

A Turkish study has investigated the effects of electroacupuncture (EA) on obesity and accompanying psychological symptoms. One hundred and sixty-five female volunteers were divided into three groups: EA, placebo EA, and diet restriction. EA was performed using three ear and six body points. Patients receiving EA experienced a 4.8% reduction in weight compared with a 2.7% weight reduction for plac ...

ACUPUNCTURE FOR WEIGHT LOSS

Categories: Obesity

Korean authors have carried out a meta-analysis of 29 studies of acupuncture for obesity. Compared to control of lifestyle, acupuncture was associated with a significant reduction in average body weight of 1.72 kg and associated with an improvement in obesity. Acupuncture significantly reduced body weight by an average of 1.56 kg compared with placebo or sham treatments. Acupuncture also showed mo ...

Acupuncture & parkinson's disease

Categories: Neurological

Twenty Parkinson's Disease (PD) patients (mean age 68 years; disease duration 8.5 years) each received acupuncture treatments by a licensed acupuncturist. All patients were treated with two acupuncture treatment sessions per week. The first seven patients received 10 treatments and the last 13 patients 16 treatments. Patients were evaluated before and after acupuncture with the Sickness Impact Pro ...

ACUPUNCTURE FOR SPASTIC CEREBRAL PALSY

Categories: Neurological

This randomised study assessed parent's perceptions of the benefits of 6 months of acupuncture or osteopathy treatment of 50 children with spastic cerebral palsy. 96% of parents reported improvements, the most frequent of which were better use of the arms or legs (61% and 68%) and more restful sleep (39% and 68%) in the osteopathic and acupuncture groups respectively.Improved mood and bowel moveme ...

ACUPUNCTURE FOR PERIPHERAL NEUROPATHY

Categories: Neurological

In a clinical trial of 21 HIV infected individuals with peripheral neuropathy treated by acupuncture, it was found that the treatment significantly reduced pain, aching, burning, pins and needles and numbness of the hands and feet. 10 treatments were given over a 5-week period. (J Altern Complement Med. 2004 Jun;10(3):449-55).

ACUPUNCTURE INCREASES CEREBRAL GLUCOSE METABOLISM IN PARKINSON'S DISEASE

Categories: Neurological

A small Chinese study has investigated the effects of acupuncture on the brain of Parkinson's disease patients using positron emission tomography (PET). Five patients received scalp-acupuncture together with Madopar (levodopa and benserazide hydrochloride), while the other five received Madopar only. PET scans before and after five weeks of acupuncture treatment showed increased glucose metabolism ...

NEIGUAN P-6 FOR MOTION SICKNESS

Categories: Nausea & vomiting

A study on the effects of acupressure at the point Neiguan P-6, placed subjects in an optokinetic drum for a twelve minute rotation period. The subjects in the P-6 acupressure group reported significantly less nausea than those in dummy-point acupressure, sham P-6 acupressure and control groups. They also showed significantly less abnormal gastric myoelectric activity. (Aviation Space & Enviro ...

ACUPUNCTURE AS AN ANTI-EMETIC

Categories: Nausea & vomiting

A review of 33 controlled trials into the use of acupuncture as an anti-emetic in pregnancy and following chemotherapy and surgery shows its effectiveness. In four trials where acupuncture was given under anaesthesia it was found to be equal to or inferior to controls. In the other 29 trials it was statistically superior to controls in 27 cases. The review was carried out by the UK's Research Coun ...

NEIGUAN P-6 AND NAUSEA

Categories: Nausea & vomiting

In this single-blind randomised study, two groups of patients suffering post-operative nausea and vomiting lasting longer than ten minutes were respectively treated by i. needling at bilateral Neiguan P-6, and ii. needling of a 'dummy' point near the elbow. In both groups, needling attempted to obtain deqi, i.e. tingling, heaviness or numbness which occasionally radiated from the site of needling, ...