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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.

Chinese herbal medicines for hyperthyroidism

Categories: Miscellaneous disorders

A systematic review has been carried out to assess the effects of Chinese herbal medicines for treating hyperthyroidism. The authors searched Western and Chinese biomedical databases and identified 13 relevant trials with 1770 participants, all of which were deemed to be of low methodological quality. Compared with antithyroid drugs alone, the results suggested that Chinese herbal medicines in com ...

Scalp acupuncture for autism

Categories: Babies & children / paediatrics, Psychological / emotional, Autism

Scalp acupuncture (SAP) may improve language development in children with autism. Twenty autistic children (4-7 years old) were divided into two groups, both of which underwent twice-weekly sessions of language therapy aimed at stimulation of cognitive and verbal abilities, over a period of nine months. Half of them also received twice-weekly SAP sessions using Baihui DU-20, Renzhong DU-26, Naohu ...

Acupuncture reduces scoliosis

Categories: Miscellaneous disorders, Back

One session of acupuncture seems to have an influence on the deformity of some scoliosis patients. In a controlled single blind crossover study, verum acupuncture, carried out according to TCM principles, was compared with sham acupuncture and just lying in a group of 24 girls with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis. In a subgroup of patients with Cobb's angle (a measurement used for evaluation of cu ...

Acupuncture cost-effective for allergic rhinitis

Categories: Hay fever, Nose and mouth, Allergies

A German study has assessed the cost-effectiveness of adjunctive acupuncture treatment for allergic rhinitis. 981 patients were randomly allocated to two groups; both received usual care, but one group additionally received ten acupuncture sessions. Quality of life and direct and indirect costs were assessed at baseline and after three months, and the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio of acupun ...

Auricular acupuncture improves short sightedness

Categories: Eye disorders

A Taiwanese RCT has compared the effect of auricular acupuncture as an adjunct to atropine eye drops in the treatment of paediatric myopia. 71 children with myopia were randomly assigned to three groups: treatment with 0.25% atropine (0.25A) only, treatment with 0.5% atropine (0.5A) only and treatment with 0.25% atropine combined with stimulation of the auricular acupoints (0.25A+E). The primary o ...

Acupuncture for spinal cord injuries

Categories: Spinal cord

A paper by American researchers has reviewed the allopathic and Chinese literature discussing the use of acupuncture in the treatment of acute and chronic spinal cord injuries (SCI). They present the neurophysiologic mechanisms for acupuncture's effects along with evidence that use of electroacupuncture in acute SCI may significantly improve long-term neurologic recovery in terms of motor, sensory ...

Acupuncture as good as steroids for carpal tunnel

Categories: Hand & wrist

Taiwanese researchers have found short term acupuncture to be as effective as short-term low-dose prednisolone for mild to moderate carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS). Seventy-seven CTS patients were randomly divided into two treatment arms: drug treatment consisting of four weeks of prednisolone (20mg daily for two weeks, then 10mg daily for two weeks) or acupuncture administered in eight sessions over ...

Acupuncture in the treatment of meniere's syndrome

Categories: Ear/hearing disorders

A systematic review of acupuncture studies for treatment of Meniere's syndrome suggests that it may be beneficial. UK researchers searched for randomised, non-randomised and observational studies in English and Chinese across six databases. Twenty-seven studies of varying quality were included in the review (nine in English and 18 in Chinese languages), all but one of which was conducted in China. ...

Red yeast rice reduces cholesterol in statin-intolerant patients

Categories: Miscellaneous disorders

Red yeast rice (Hong Qu) may be an effective alternative treatment for people with high cholesterol who cannot tolerate statins. Sixty two patients with dyslipidemia, who had discontinued statin therapy due to muscle pain, were assigned to receive red yeast rice (1800mg) or placebo twice daily for 24 weeks. All patients were also enrolled in a 12-week therapeutic lifestyle change program. Low-dens ...

Acupuncture for acute trauma

Categories: Miscellaneous disorders

A feasibility study carried out in an emergency department (ED) in the USA suggests that acupuncture can be an effective analgesic intervention for patients who have suffered minor acute trauma to the extremities. Acupuncture was used as primary analgesia for 20 patients who presented at the ED with acute, non-penetrating extremity injuries. The median visual analog scale change in pain for pre- v ...

Acupuncture clears nasal congestion

Categories: Miscellaneous disorders, Allergies

German investigators have recorded objective measures of improvement in nasal congestion following acupuncture. Twenty-four patients with a history of nasal congestion were diagnosed according to the Heidelberg model of TCM. They were treated using either specific verum acupoints according to TCM diagnosis, or nonspecific control acupoints. Subjective (VAS - nasal congestion measured on a visual a ...

Gou ji may help prevent osteoporosis

Categories: Miscellaneous disorders, Back

Korean and Vietnamese biochemists have investigated the Chinese herb Gou Ji (Rhizoma Cibotii barometz - or chain fern rhizome) as a possible treatment for osteoporosis. The herb is also known in Vietnam as the vegetable lamb plant, based on a legend of lambs springing fully grown from its seeds. It has traditionally been classified in Chinese medicine as a Kidney and Liver tonic that strengthens t ...

ACUPUNCTURE BETTER THAN USUAL CARE FOR MENOPAUSAL HOT FLUSHES

Categories: Gynaecology, Menopausal syndrome

A pilot study on the effect of acupuncture in decreasing hot flushes in menopausal women has concluded either that there is a strong placebo effect or that both traditional and sham acupuncture significantly reduce hot flush frequency. Fifty-six postmenopausal women (aged 44 to 55) were randomised to one of three treatment groups: usual care, sham acupuncture (shallow needling at non-therapeutic s ...

ACUPUNCTURE HELPS REDUCE MENOPAUSAL HOT FLUSHES

Categories: Gynaecology, Menopausal syndrome

A Norwegian study has found that acupuncture in addition to self-care can contribute to a clinically relevant reduction in menopausal hot flushes. The research was a multicentre, pragmatic, randomised, controlled trial with two parallel arms comparing the effect of individualised acupuncture plus self-care against self-care alone for hot flushes and health-related quality of life in 267 postmenopa ...

ACUPUNCTURE AND IMPOTENCE

Categories: Male disorders

29 patients with psychogenic (non-organic) impotence were treated by doctors in the Urology and Anaesthesiology Departments of Ankara University, Turkey. All patients were needled at points Ciliao BL-32, Dadun LIV-1, Yinlian LIV-11, Neiguan P-6, Tiaokou ST-38, Qugu REN-2 and Baihui DU-20 for a total of ten treatments. Successful results (two satisfactory sexual activities in a week) were achieved ...

ACUPUNCTURE & VASOMOTOR SYMPTOMS

Categories: Male disorders

A Swedish study has shown acupuncture to be effective in reducing vasomotor symptoms (hot flushes) in men following castration therapy for prostatic carcinoma. Patients received twice weekly acupuncture for 2 weeks, and weekly for 10 weeks. Flushes were reduced by 70% after 10 weeks and was 50% lower 3 months after the last treatment (Journal of Urology 1999; 161(3); 853-856).

ACUPUNCTURE & CHRONIC PROSTATITIS

Categories: Male disorders, Pelvic

Some sources suggest that up to 10% of men suffer from some of the symptoms of chronic prostatitis, more commonly referred to nowadays as chronic pelvic pain syndrome (CPPS). Whilst western medical treatment does not offer a lot of help for this condition, there have been reports and studies rom China over many years of its successful treatment by acupuncture. Now a western study has confirmed the ...

ACUPUNCTURE & MALE INFERTILITY

Categories: Infertility, Male disorders

In a small Brazilian study, 19 male patients with sperm abnormalities (sperm count, motility and morphology) were randomly assigned to receive true (treatment group) or sham (control group) acupuncture and moxibustion treatment. The treatment group were needled at Qichong ST-30, Taixi KID-3, Zusanli ST-36, Hegu L.I.-4, Sanyinjiao SP-6, Gongsun SP-4, Taichong LIV-3 and Neiguan P-6 (with deqi), and ...

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 IMPROVES SPERM QUALITY

Categories: Infertility, Male disorders

A study of the effect of acupuncture on sperm quality in men suffering infertility of unknown cause, found that after twice weekly treatment for five weeks, there were fewer structural sperm defects (acrosome position and shape, nuclear shape, axonemal pattern and shape, and accessory fibres of sperm organelles) and an increase in the number of normal sperm ejaculated. Other sperm abnormalities su ...