Research Confirms Acupuncture’s Ability to Ameliorate Pain

Research shows that acupuncture reduces pain following C-section surgery (and other surgeries) and the use of painkillers in a significant way.

Researchers in Taiwan’s Kaohsiung Medical University did a study that was published in the 2009 edition of the Chinese Medical Journal. In the study, 60 women who had C-section surgery were randomly assigned to either a group that would receive with electro-acupuncture or acupuncture treatment or to a control group for the relief of postsurgical pain. They found that the group treated with acupuncture or electro-acupuncture showed much lower pain scores within a full 24 hours following C-section, used an average 32.5% less morphine, requested morphine treatment an average of 10 minutes later and experienced lesser side-effects related to morphine compared to the control group.

Pain Relief Using Acupuncture Treatment in New York

A traditional Chinese medical practice, acupuncture consists of sticking filform needles into certain areas of the body where energy channels called meridians are located as dictated by the health condition being addressed. An increasing amount of scientific research now validates acupuncture’s ability in addressing a wide variety of health issues, especially pain. Private insurance companies are now providing coverage for this type of treatment.

There have been earlier studies done than the Cesarean study discussed above that have connected acupuncture to lesser usage of painkilling drugs following surgery. In 2008, a Duke University research team did a study which was discussed in a conference of the American Society for Anesthesiology also on 2008. The conference reviewed the results of the study which involved 15 independent clinical trials on pre- and post-surgery acupuncture treatment. They outcome of the study revealed that acupuncture helped reduce the levels of pain in a significant way as well as helped decrease the use of painkilling drugs in patients after surgery regardless if it (acupuncture) was administered before and after surgery.

Because painkillers were used much less, it led to fewer side effects. The subjects who weren’t given acupuncture treatment were 3 ½ times likely to experience urinary retention problems, 1 ½ times more likely to suffer from nausea, 1 3/5 times likelier to experience dizziness, and 3 ½ times more likely to resort to painkillers.

For addressing all types of pain, including, of course, the above-mentioned post-surgical pain, acupuncture seems to be extremely effective. In 2008, the Archives of Internal Medicine published a study in which 1,162 adults all suffering from longstanding lower back pain were randomly divided into either a group that received Western conventional therapy of exercise and medications, a group treated with sham acupuncture or to a group that was given real acupuncture treatment. Results showed that only 27% of the patients who received Western conventional treatment experienced a 33% reduction of pain and betterment in their functional capabilities compared with the 48% and 44% of the ones treated with real acupuncture and sham acupuncture respectively.

In 2012, the Archives of Internal Medicine published a meta-analysis review, about data collated from 29 past studies in which a total of 18,000 individuals participated. The subjects in these studies all suffered from chronic (longstanding) pain caused by shoulder pain, neck pain, back pain, or headaches. The participants were assigned either to conventional Western therapies (physical therapy and medications), sham acupuncture, or real acupuncture. On a pain scale of 0 to 100, where 0 is the lowest score for pain felt and 100 being the highest, the researchers measured an average pain score of 60 at the start of any given study. At the end of the study the real acupuncture group scored an average 30, the score of the sham acupuncture registered 32, while that of the Western conventional treatment group scored an average of 43.

From these outcomes, some researchers theorize that the placebo effect accounts for much of the success of acupuncture’s pain-relieving abilities and that it does truly work; knowing why it works seems irrelevant, states University of California-San Francisco researcher Andrew Avins. He suggested in an article published in in 2012, in the Archives of Internal Medicine, that there is scientific evidence that now justifies acupuncture’s use for patients suffering from acute or chronic pain.