A number of studies have showed that acupuncture as alternative therapy can effectively treat chronic pain such as back and neck pain,osteoarthritis/knee pain and headache,help lessen some side effects of cancer treatment and relieve depression.It can also restore nerve damage and enhances body function. Then what is acupuncture good for?
Acupuncture for chronic pain: It can relieve various pains without side effects
Acupuncture is most commonly used for pain relief. In 1971, James Reston, a reporter from the New York Times, was invited to visit China, during which he underwent surgery for acute appendicitis and suffered from abdominal pain after the surgery. Chinese doctor use a needle inserted into the acupoints on the elbow and knee and apply moxibustion on the abdomen, and the flatulence and pain was disappeared less than 1 hour. A 30-year-old Canadian woman suffered from sever pain due to fibromyalgia. She tried acupuncture the first time. The pain index changed from 8 to 3 after 20 minutes. She told the doctor in surprise: “If you can do this every day,I don’t have to take morphine!”
Opioids drugs are mostly used to relieve moderate to severe pain, it has the side effects of addiction and respiratory depression.In the United States,more than 106,000 people died from opioid drug overdose in 2021 and has been increasing yearly. For decreasing painkiller drug abuse, acupuncture is considered an effective alternative treatment by the U.S. government.
It used to believe that pain relief by acupuncture just has a effect of placebo. Recently research studies showed that acupuncture has a unique pain relief effect. By stimulating the central and peripheral nervous systems of the brain can release different endogenous endorphins to achieve analgesic effects without being addictive or irritating the stomach.
A multinational study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine was found that the clinical effects of acupuncture treatment is better than placebo treatment and general standard treatment when dealing with patients with osteoarthritis, migraines, and chronic back, shoulder, and neck pain. Another study published in “Lancet” by the University of Berlin also revealed that pain and joint function were significantly improved after 8 weeks of acupuncture treatment for patients with osteoarthritis.
Acupuncture was the first choice for chronic pain relief when orthopedic surgeons making prescription.
Studies showed that acupuncture can relieve chronic pain such as headaches, low back pain, carpal tunnel syndrome, and joint pain.Thus,acupuncture was strongly recommended as an adjuvant therapy for low back pain by the American College of Physicians (ACP).
According to Traditional Chinese medicine(TCM), the pain is due to Qi stagnation and blood stasis in the body, and acupuncture can help promote blood circulation and remove blood stasis.
In Brazil, acupuncture is most commonly used to treat pain. President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva treated his frozen shoulder naturally by acupuncture. Medical institutions also use acupuncture to replace painkillers.
“We are often prescribing this type of (acupuncture) prescription.” a orthopedic doctors said. In outpatients clinic, they often received patients with chronic pain such as fifty shoulders, low back pain, shoulder pain, and joint degeneration. They will consider acupuncture as the first choice for treatment of pain relieve for preventing side effects from taking painkillers for a long time. Acupuncture is effective in relieving pain, and can relieve insomnia and improve the quality of life.
Acupuncture for Cancer: It can manage cancer-related side effects
Apart from pain relief, acupuncture can help in managing side effects of cancer treatment which is currently the most important area in the treatment of acupuncture.
According to the 2020 global cancer statistics released by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IACR), Cancer is a leading cause of death worldwide, accounting for nearly 10 million deaths in 2020. With the rapid development of medical treatment, many cancers can be turned into chronic diseases or effectively can be prolonged the survival time. However, the side effects caused by can treatment can still be unbearable, such as nausea, vomiting, hair loss, pain and so on.
At this time, acupuncture can come in handy.
Aromatase inhibitors, AI are often used in the treatment of breast cancer, which can reduce the level of estrogen in the body. Taking it continuously for 5 to 10 years can decrease the recurrence rate of breast cancer, but its side effect is severe pain similar to arthritis. For this reason, more than half of women have to discontinue the course of treatment.
Dawn Hershman, a cancer scientist at Columbia University in the United States, recruited 226 women suffering from different cancers in 11 cancer centers around the country, and he found that acupuncture can significantly reduce the pain of breast cancer women receiving hormone treatment,helping patients with the maintenance therapy, so as to improve survival. The study was published at the 2017 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.
Sheryl Crow, a American rock singer,successfully defeated breast cancer.She mentioned that acupuncture and herbal medicine were used to assist her with the fighting of cancer during the course of treatment.
In the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), one in three cancer patients uses complementary therapies, including yoga, acupuncture, herbal medicine, and nutritional supplements. As early as 1997, the National Institutes of Health (NIH)showed that there was positive evidence for acupuncture’s effectiveness on nausea, vomiting, pain and other side effects of cancer radiation and chemotherapy, and it is quite safe, so it should be included in regular medical programs.
The NIH pointed out that taking acupuncture during radiotherapy and chemotherapy will not interfere with the course of treatment. On the contrary, its unique character of replenishing qi and activating blood circulation can help improve the soreness and numbness of fingers and toes after the treatment.
Acupuncture for Stroke: It can relieve stroke sequelae and prevent stroke
Acupuncture can assist with various neurological conditions ranging from fifty shoulders, falls, phantom neuralgia after amputation to stroke recovery. A young Austrian girl suffered from a stroke 3 years ago, since then she had been distressed with her trembling left hand that was the sequelae caused from the stroke. Thus, she resorted to Chinese medicine for help. Her left hand immediately stopped trembling half hour later when the Chinese doctor applying several needle in her head. Many facts showed that acupuncture can restore normal function for patients associated with nervous problem like inability to lift hands or to walk,such as stroke and brain injury.
Particularly, acupuncture have been found effective in treating pain, soreness, numbness (weakness), and paralysis. According to statistics, stroke patients accounted for 8% of total acupuncture patients, peripheral neuropathy, facial paralysis, trigeminal neuralgia, and hand numbness accounted for 7%.
Acupuncture can not only invigorate qi and activate blood circulation, but also help nerve repair.The most common case is that weakness in one hand or foot caused from mild to moderate stroke can be significantly improved after 3 months of acupuncture treatment.
In addition to stroke and peripheral neuropathy, acupuncture can also improve children with cerebral palsy and developmental delay,muscle tone and enhance limb mobility in cerebral palsy rehabilitation.
For children with developmental delays, acupuncture can stimulate and strengthen cognition, emotion, memory and reasoning ability, and improve attention deficit. It can also train the flexibility of peripheral muscles and make children’s oral expression more complete.
Acupuncture for Depression: It can relieve anxiety and help sleep
According to a report by “Forbes”, a vast majority of financial industry employees have been in a high-pressure environment for a long time which make them more likely to have emotional instability, fatigue, insomnia, migraines, and muscle tension.
In New York, a number of body-mind-spirit integration centers that provide acupuncture and meditation courses sprung up at the street corners in Manhattan. Many employees from Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and other well-known investment banks and Bloomberg take use of acupuncture during lunch breaks to relieve stress and relieve anxiety and tension.
Acupuncture can relieve stress, get rid of insomnia, and relieve anxiety and depression, and the effect lasts longer than medicine. A 2016 study published in the Journal of Integrative Medicine found that acupuncture can improve insomnia, help balance the body’s hormones and reduce stress, both of which are the main factors that interfere with sleep.
Hugh MacPherson, a professor from the Department of Health Sciences of the University of York in U.K.,he conducted a comparison test on the effects of acupuncture, psychological counseling or antidepressants by taking 755 depressed patients as subjects.The result found that both acupuncture and psychological counseling were effective in reducing depression levels, in which the treatment effect can last up to 12 months. In contrast,antidepressants don’t work for everyone.
Acupuncture can improve severe emotional distress and can be widely applicable to trauma syndrome.
American college students have serious problems with anxiety, depression, and inattention. “Don’t see them smiling all day. These students also have classwork pressure and peer competition, and many of them take antidepressants privately. There are also students who don’t want to take medicine, so they come to try acupuncture treatment.” Some college students are highly receptive to acupuncture. For example, ear seed is also a kind of acupuncture that is not painful, like a small ear bean sticking to the ear wall, and it can last for 3 to 5 days of sedative, with the effect of calming and sleeping. After 2-3 weeks of treatment,such conditions as anxiety,depression and stress can be improved. The ear acupuncture is very popular among students.
Acupuncture can even improve more severe emotional distress like PTSD.
In 2016, a magnitude 6 earthquake in Italy killed 300 people and left 30,000 homeless. A study published in the “Medical Acupuncture” has showed that the physical and mental health problem among earthquake survivors such as anxiety, restlessness, depression, insomnia, and pain were significantly improved after receiving acupuncture 4 times a week for 20 minutes each time in 5 consecutive weeks.Furthermore, acupuncture is also used to improve the trauma syndrome of veterans in American Veterans system medical institutes.
Acupuncture for fertility: It can help with infertility and normal delivery and relieve menopause
From becoming pregnant to childbirth, and even hot flashes during menopause, acupuncture can help women go through important stages of life more comfortably.
Currently, it is very common to combine acupuncture with the treatment of infertility. In the treatment of infertility using assisted reproductive technology(ART), acupuncture can be a powerful approach to include as part of an IVF treatment plan. For example, Celine Dion, the queen of pop music, used acupuncture to assist artificial insemination and gave birth to a lovely twin sons.
According to the American Pregnancy Association, acupuncture combined with herbal medicine can improve ovarian and follicle function. Acupuncture can also increase blood flow in the endometrium, making the endometrium thicker that is more suitable for fertilized eggs to implant, so as to increase the chance of conception. For those people who want to improves conception rates and boost fertility, acupuncture seems to be less-cost and effective treatment.
Acupuncture can also help stabilize your mood during pregnancy.
According to the report of British “Daily Mail”, Princess Megan of the United Kingdom used acupuncture to relieve migraines, and maintain health and fight with anxiety during pregnancy. Natalie Portman, a movie star, also uses acupuncture for pregnancy maintenance,supporting her regular daily exercise and combating pregnancy stress.
In France, midwives and doctors take use of acupuncture for miscarriage, midwifery, and pain relief to assist in smooth delivery. The use of acupuncture in France become more popular since the establishment of the first acupuncture school. According to European media reports, acupuncture was used to relieve pain in childbirth in 1988. After 2008, the Obstetrics and Gynecology Department of Paris Public Hospital also used acupuncture to relieve the waist and back pain of pregnant women.
Apart from pregnancy, acupuncture can also help relieve menopausal problems, such as insomnia, hot flashes, which may last for 3 to 4 years.
In a study published in the “British Medical Journal (BMJ open)”, it took 70 menopausal women as subjects, half of whom used acupuncture for 15 minutes a week. It was found that the the symptoms of participants who used acupuncture for hot flashes decreased after 3 weeks.8 weeks later,acupuncture helped 80% of the acupuncture group to improve menopausal symptoms, including frequency of night sweats, sleep disruption, emotional distress, and skin and hair problems.
Acupuncture near me in Dubai
Here at Shanghai Medical Clinic, we aim to help you regain your quality of life through effective TCM treatment modalities. Our acupuncture treatments are tailored to each individual’s health concern to achieve optimum results. You may contact us at +971 4343 4811 or make an booking to learn more.
