Acupuncture has been increasingly used as an integrative or complementary therapy for pain. It is well-tolerated with little risk of serious adverse effects. Traditional acupuncture and nontraditional techniques, such as electroacupuncture and dry needling, often result in reported pain improvement.
How effective is acupuncture in the management of pain?
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- Gaw AC, Chang LW, Shaw L-C Efficacy of acupuncture on osteoarthritic pain. ...
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How does acupuncture work to relieve pain?
- Back and neck pain
- Osteoarthritis ( your doctor may call it “degenerative joint disease” or “wear and tear arthritis)
- Chronic headache
- Shoulder pain
Does acupuncture really work?
“There’s good data that acupuncture works well for pain management, like lower-back pain, knee pain, migraines and musculoskeletal pain, as well as psycho-emotional issues like anxiety and depression,” Majd says. Acupuncture is also commonly used to help treat insomnia, digestive issues, respiratory issues and, more recently, infertility.
What health conditions can acupuncture treat?
What Can Acupuncture Treat?
- Pain
- Cancer
- Allergies
- Headache & Migraine
- Smoking Cessation
- Anxiety & Depression
- Gynecologic Disorders
- Insomnia
- Digestive Disorders
What type of treatment is acupuncture?
Acupuncture involves the insertion of very thin needles through your skin at strategic points on your body. A key component of traditional Chinese medicine, acupuncture is most commonly used to treat pain.
Why is acupuncture therapeutic?
Acupuncture points are believed to stimulate the central nervous system. This, in turn, releases chemicals into the muscles, spinal cord, and brain. These biochemical changes may stimulate the body's natural healing abilities and promote physical and emotional well-being.
What is acupuncture best at treating?
Hundreds of clinical studies on the benefits of acupuncture show that it successfully treats conditions ranging from musculoskeletal problems (back pain, neck pain, and others) to nausea, migraine headache, anxiety, depression, insomnia, and infertility.
Is acupuncture a therapeutic modality?
After reviewing literature from both China and Western countries, we found strong evidence supporting acupuncture as a therapeutic modality, but not as a placebo.
What are 3 benefits of acupuncture?
Top 10 Benefits of Acupuncture for Workplace Stress and PainReduced Back Pain, Neck Tension and Relieve Joint Pain in the Hands and Arms. ... Relief from Headaches. ... Reduced Eye Strain. ... Improved Immune System and Reduced Sick Days. ... Enhanced Mental Clarity and Increased Energy. ... Relief from Digestive Conditions. ... Allergy Relief.More items...
Does acupuncture help nerve pain?
"It can also help with nerve regeneration and preservation. If there has been nerve damage or diminished sensation, we target treatment in these areas to re-stimulate those nerve fibers." Indeed, studies show that acupuncture is an effective treatment for peripheral neuropathy, with fewer side effects than medications.
Does acupuncture reduce inflammation?
One well-researched effect of acupuncture is reducing inflammation throughout the body. Acupuncture stimulates chemicals that reduce swelling and quiet unwanted immune responses and allergic reactions.
How long do the effects of acupuncture last?
In summary, the amount of time the effects of acupuncture last largely depends on the individual's age, symptoms, and treatments they are receiving. This means that the effects can last for either a few days to a couple of weeks.
How long does it take for acupuncture to work for pain?
Generally after 30 minutes of treatment you should feel something working. The length of time needed for it to work depends on what medical problem is being treated and the type of accupuncture being used.
Who is acupuncture not recommended for?
If you have a bleeding disorder, such as haemophilia, or are taking anticoagulants, talk to your GP before you have acupuncture. Acupuncture is also not usually advised if you have a metal allergy or an infection in the area where needles may be inserted.
What should you not do after acupuncture?
So, what should clients avoid after acupuncture? Clients should avoid strenuous exercise, caffeine, junk food, alcohol, cold temperatures, digital screens, and, where possible, stressful situations.
How do you know if acupuncture is working?
Acupuncture needles are much thinner than medical needles, and they are solid, not hollow. The needles may cause some muscle sensations, such as dull ache or tingling. Your practitioner will ask you to report when you feel a deep heaviness or numbness. Those sensations usually mean the treatment is working.
How does acupuncture help anxiety?
While there are many ways to manage stress and anxiety, people are increasingly turning to acupuncture to calm frayed nerves. "Acupuncture stimulates the body's natural feel-good hormones and reduces the level of stress hormones like cortisol," says Mathew Kulas, MA, RAc, an acupuncturist at Henry Ford Health.
How do you feel after acupuncture?
People can feel tired after acupuncture. A more common result is increased energy. The fatigue after acupuncture is your body telling you that it's depleted. Feeling fatigued after acupuncture is not cause for concern, but it is a warning sign that you need to rest.
How do I know acupuncture is working?
The following are the most common signs indicate your acupuncture treatment is working.Sign 1: Pain Relief. ... Sign 2: Improved Sleep Pattern. ... Sign 3: Eating Better. ... Sign 4: Circulating Well. ... Sign 5: Elimination Properly. ... Sign 6: Breathing Easy. ... Sign 7: A Sense of Emotional Wellbeing. ... Sign 8: Uneventful Menstruation.
What happens during acupuncture?
You'll lie down or sit on a table, and the acupuncturist will put needles into various points on your body, called meridians. These are energy channels in the body. Through thousands of years of learning, traditional Chinese medicine has compiled very complete and complex systems of meridians.
Is acupuncture a placebo?
This pattern supports the notion that acupuncture treatment has a notable placebo response, or meaning response, that may be responsible for much of its demonstrated benefits. For certain patients, especially those who are unresponsive or intolerant to standard therapies, acupuncture is a reasonable treatment option.
Does acupuncture help with headaches?
Acupuncture may provide modest benefits in the treatment of chronic low back pain, tension headache and chronic headache, migraine headache prophylaxis, and myofascial pain.
Is acupuncture good for pain?
Acupuncture has been increasingly used as an integrative or complementary therapy for pain. It is well-tolerated with little risk of serious adverse effects. Traditional acupuncture and nontraditional techniques, such as electroacupuncture and dry needling, often result in reported pain improvement. Multiple factors may contribute to variability in acupuncture's therapeutic effects, including needling technique, number of needles used, duration of needle retention, acupuncture point specificity, number of treatments, and numerous subjective (psychological) factors. Controlled trials have been published on pain syndromes, such as acupuncture for acute and chronic low back pain, knee osteoarthritis, headache, myofascial pain, neck pain, and fibromyalgia. For some conditions, enough data are available for systematic evaluations or meta-analyses. Acupuncture may provide modest benefits in the treatment of chronic low back pain, tension headache and chronic headache, migraine headache prophylaxis, and myofascial pain. Although patients receiving acupuncture for acute low back pain and knee osteoarthritis report less pain, the improvement with true (verum) acupuncture over sham acupuncture is not clinically significant for these conditions. These two conditions illustrate a recurring pattern in acupuncture trials, in which the additional improvement that can be attributed to verum over sham acupuncture, even when statistically significant, is of less clinical significance. This pattern supports the notion that acupuncture treatment has a notable placebo response, or meaning response, that may be responsible for much of its demonstrated benefits. For certain patients, especially those who are unresponsive or intolerant to standard therapies, acupuncture is a reasonable treatment option.
Is acupuncture a controlled trial?
Controlled trials have been published on pain syndromes, such as acupuncture for acute and chronic low back pain, knee osteoarthritis, headache, myofascial pain, neck pain, and fibromyalgia. For some conditions, enough data are available for systematic evaluations or meta-analyses.
What are the side effects of acupuncture?
The most common side effects of acupuncture are bleeding, soreness or swelling. It normally occurs at the location where the needles are being inserted. Other risks can be dizziness, fainting, internal bleeding, convulsions, fever, increased pain or nerve damage. Affected internal organs are the worst condition that may occur.
What are the side effects of taking a pain reliever?
Common side effects that occur are constipation, nausea, drowsiness, confusion, slowed reactions of the body, slowed breathing, and worse, death. These normally occur due to prolonged usage of pain relievers.
Is pain management an extensive approach?
Pain management is quite an extensive approach in the medical field. Each pain shall be attended properly to avoid severe problems in the end. In this paragraph, let’s discuss using acupuncture for pain management.
Why is acupuncture so popular?
Acupuncture is widely known for its effectiveness in the treatment of pain. Its unique role in reducing suffering in patients experiencing pain is one of the main reasons it has become so popular around the world. The research is plentiful on the effects of acupuncture on specific painful conditions, as can be seen throughout this website. For acute pain, a systematic review of 13 trials found that acupuncture was more effective than both sham needling and injection with painkillers. 18
Why does pain stop when you have an injury?
It starts suddenly, and when the injury heals, the pain stops. In acute injury, the pain is due to pressure from inflammation in the tissues and nerves at the site of the injury.
How many people have chronic pain?
Over 1.5 billion people worldwide suffer from chronic pain. 1 Nearly one third of American adults experience chronic pain, 2 and almost one in five surveyed Europeans indicated they have moderate or severe chronic pain 3 The three most common sources of chronic pain are low back pain (29%), neck pain (16%), and severe headache or migraine pain (15%). 4
Is acupuncture a referral option?
A meta-analysis of 17,922 patients from randomized trials concluded, “Acupuncture is effective for the treatment of chronic pain and is therefore a reasonable referral option.
Is chronic pain a financial burden?
In addition to the financial burden that comes with chronic pain, the emotional costs to patients and family can be high as well. Chronic pain constitutes a tremendous expense to employers in healthcare and rehabilitation costs, and lost worker productivity.
Is acupuncture better than sham needling?
For acute pain, a systematic review of 13 trials found that acupuncture was more effective than both sham needling and injection with painkillers. 18. %.
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How does it feel?
Acupuncture isn't likely to make you feel like a pincushion. However, the effect it produces, known as deqi—has been difficult to describe. In 2014, researchers at University of California, Los Angeles, evaluated several surveys in which acupuncture patients described what they felt during the procedure. Most common was a dull aching and pressure.
The evidence for acupuncture
Acupuncture is used to treat a number of conditions, including chronic neck, back, and knee pain; musculoskeletal disorders like fibromyalgia; headache; and menstrual cramps.
Disclaimer
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