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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.

How much could acupuncture save the NHS on back pain?

Categories: Acupuncture, Comment

At a time when reducing costs is a priority for all healthcare systems - an issue which is at the forefront of controversial National Health Service reforms in the UK - it is essential to consider different approaches to the treatment of difficult and expensive conditions. A recent Canadian study, for example, has found that patients with chronic lower back pain who receive acupuncture are signif ...

Acupuncture reduces cost of back pain

Categories: Back

Patients with low-back pain (LBP) are less likely to visit physicians for LBP after receiving acupuncture treatment, leading to reduced healthcare spending on LBP. In a case control study carried out in Canada, 201 cases in which LBP was treated with acupuncture were compared with 804 controls. Each acupuncture group case was matched with four comparison cases from the general population wit ...

Ear acupuncture enhances athletic recovery

Categories: Acupuncture research, Lifestyle research

Auricular acupuncture (AA) can enhance athletes' recovery after strenuous exercise, suggests the results of a Taiwanese study.

Mindfulness has positive effect on urban youth

Categories: Lifestyle research

Research from the USA suggests that teaching mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) to urban youths may have a positive effect on hostility levels, interpersonal relationships, school achievement and physical health.

Fatty foods limit the effect of sadness

Categories: Psychological / emotional, Diet research

Fatty foods can make people less vulnerable to sadness, even if they are unaware of the fat content in the food they are eating.

Vegetarian diet protects against diverticular disease

Categories: Digestive & Bowel disorders, Diet research

A UK study has shown that vegetarians are a third less likely to suffer from diverticular disease than meat eaters.

Tai chi benefits Parkinson's patients

Categories: Neurological, Tai chi

In a four-year study of 195 subjects with mild to moderate Parkinson's disease, tai chi has been found to improve postural stability and walking ability and to reduce the risk of falling.

Very low calorie diet reverses diabetes

Categories: Diabetes, Diet research

An extreme eight-week diet can reverse type 2 diabetes in recently diagnosed patients, say British researchers.

Yoga helps women with fibromyalgia

Categories: Fibromyaigia, Yoga research

A Canadian team has found that an eight-week yoga intervention is associated with improvements in pain, psychological functioning and cortisol levels in women with fibromyalgia (FM).

Voluntary control over autonomic processes via tai chi and meditation

Categories: Tai chi

Physiological responses normally associated with involuntary autonomic thermoregulation can be voluntarily activated during a tai chi exercise.

Fenugreek spices up sex life

Categories: Male disorders, Lifestyle research

An extract of the spice fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-graecum) has demonstrated a significant positive effect on male libido and may assist in maintaining normal testosterone levels, according to research by Australian scientists.

Qigong prevents swimmers from catching colds

Categories: Respiratory disorders, Qigong

Practising qigong may protect elite swimmers from upper respiratory tract infections (URIs), US researchers have found.

Tai chi prevents weight gain in breast cancer survivors

Categories: Cancer, Tai chi

Tai chi can help prevent weight gain and maintain lean body mass in breast cancer survivors by stabilising insulin levels, say American researchers.

Qigong improves quality of life

Categories: Qigong

People who practice qigong report improved health-related quality of life compared with non-practitioners, according to a study from Taiwan.

Cold and Heat patterns correlated with gene expression patterns

Categories: Arthritis , General discussion

TCM patterns of Cold and Heat in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients can be correlated with specific patterns of gene expression, according to a Chinese group.

Chinese herbs demonstrate anti-fungal activity

Categories: Herbal medicine

A Chinese group has demonstrated that crude extracts from a number of Chinese herbs have in vitro activity against Candida species isolated from patients with HIV/AIDS. Herbal extracts with anti-Candida activity included Mu Dan Pi (Cortex Moutan), Tu Jin Pi (Cortex Pseudolarix), Gao Liang Jiang (Rhizoma Alpiniae officinarum), Huang Lian (Rhizoma Coptidis), Ding xiang (Flos Caryophylli [Clove]), Ro ...

Acupuncture activates NK cells to fight cancer

Categories: Cancer, Immunity, Acupuncture research

US authors have formulated an

Impedance at Lung points correlates with asthma

Categories: Respiratory disorders, Acupuncture research

Skin impedance measured at points on the Lung channel may correlate with asthma status, say Hong Kong scientists.

Tai chi reduces inflammation

Categories: Tai chi

Practising tai chi can lead to a reduction in levels of inflammatory markers in the blood of older adults.

Chinese medicine as good as drugs for ulcerative colitis

Categories: Digestive & Bowel disorders

A Chinese herbal medicine containing Ku Shen (Radix Sophorae flavescentis) has been shown to be as effective as the anti-inflammatory drug mesalamine for treating ulcerative colitis (UC).