Five Seasons Women’s Wellness: Health and Wellness Blog

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An Italian study recently published in Evidence-based Complimentary and Alternative Medicine demonstrated that acupuncture has a significant beneficial effect for patients suffering from painful periods (dysmenorrhea) resistant to conventional medical treatment.

The participants, who suffered moderate to severe dysmenorrhea, were given 8 weekly acupuncture treatments over a period of 2 months, with needles inserted in applicable point locations for 30 minutes.

13 of the 15 participants in the study experienced substantial pain reduction and reduced use of NSAIDs following the acupuncture treatments.  7 of the 15 participants ceased NSAID use completely and remained asymptomatic when questioned 6 months after treatments ended.

Acupuncture Treatment of Dysmenorrhea Resistant to Conventional Medical Treatment

Dr. Philip Lang and colleagues of the University of Munich used quantitative sensory testing to explore changes in pain sensitivity with acupuncture in 24 healthy volunteers. Researchers found that pain thresholds increased by up to 50 percent after applying acupuncture.  Effects were noted in both the treated and untreated area.

The study, published in the May issue of Anesthesia & Analgesia, offers further scientific validity for the use of traditional Chinese medicine in the treatment of pain.

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A recent study published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology found that acupuncture may help relieve joint pain and stiffness in women treated with aromatase inhibitors for early breast cancer.

Aromatase inhibitors are used to suppress the production of estrogen in women with estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer.

The study divided 43 women taking an aromatase inhibitor for early breast cancer and experiencing musculoskeletal pain into two treatment groups. One group received true acupuncture, while the other group received sham acupuncture (superficial needle insertion at nonacupoint locations). Treatment was given twice a week for six weeks.

Women treated with true acupuncture experienced improvement in joint pain and stiffness over the course of the study. No such improvement was observed among women treated with sham acupuncture.

The results of this study suggest that acupuncture may help women manage joint pain and stiffness associated with aromatase inhibitor treatment.

A Yale School of Medicine study recently published in the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology found that acupuncture can be used successfully to treat lower back and pelvic pain in women who are pregnant.

According to the study, pregnant women who received 1-week continuous auricular acupuncture treatment reported significantly less pain compared with those who received sham acupuncture or no treatment.

The study concluded that, “For a majority of participants receiving therapeutic acupuncture, pain relief was substantial and led to improvement of functional status. Hence, this study supports that use of acupuncture at specific auricular points is a safe and effective nonpharmacologic treatment of an important clinical entity for which there are currently few, if any, effective treatments.”

University of Ulster researchers found acupuncture, used in combination with supervised exercise, to be more beneficial than exercise alone for treating and managing back pain.

This study is just one of many that has found acupuncture to be helpful in reducing and managing pain.

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Researchers at the University of Michigan Chronic Pain and Fatigue Research Center found that acupuncture alters the way the brain processes pain.

Using brain imaging, UM researchers found that acupuncture increased the binding availability of mu-opoid receptors (MOR) in regions of the brain that process and dampen pain signals.

The University of Michigan study is the first to provide evidence that acupuncture affects the brain’s long-term ability to regulate pain.  The full study will be published in the September issue of Journal of NeuroImage.

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Acupuncture can offer a great deal of relief to women who suffer from endometriosis.  It can be used in conjunction with Western medical intervention or on its own.

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Acupuncture is as effective as the corticosteroid, prednisone, for the treatment of carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS), according to a new study.

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