General Medical Conditions and Acupuncture Treatment Management

The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) established that acupuncture works. A review was conducted that compared usual medical care with placebo acupuncture and acupuncture. The review found that acupuncture was better than usual care and placebo acupuncture for pain from musculoskeletal conditions, knee arthritis and chronic headache. To find out more watch the video below.

Research that investigated 18,000 people diagnosed as suffering from chronic neck pain, lower back pain, head or knee pain demonstrated that acupuncture can support the effectiveness of standard medical care by reducing chronic pain severity.

The research involved an analyses of 29 high-quality trials that investigated medical treatments and acupuncture treatment. Medical treatment comparisons included anti-inflammatory medication and physiotherapy. Findings demonstrate that acupuncture is a treatment option for people with chronic pain as acupuncture significantly reduced the number of headaches and migraine attacks. Acupuncture also reduced lower back pain and disability of osteoarthritis. This was said to contribute to patients being less reliant on medication to control pain.

Research found that both acupuncture and counselling significantly reduced the severity of depressions, with benefits persisting for up to a year after treatment.

Acupuncture is recommended by the National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE) guidelines for the treatment management of Headaches in over 12s: diagnosis and management (CG150). 

Acupuncture is also recommended by NICE for the treatment management of Chronic pain (primary and secondary) in over 16s: assessment of all chronic pain and management of chronic primary pain (CG193).

Evidence-Based Acupuncture provides information about acupuncture’s scientific evidence.

An acupuncture evidence base summary was conducted by a team of researchers in Australia. They found evidence of a positive effect of acupuncture treatment on medically diagnosed conditions.

A review of systematic reviews of acupuncture treatment identified evidence for a positive effect for:

• Acupuncture and allergic rhinitis
• Acupuncture and chronic low back pain
• Acupuncture and tension-type headache/chronic headaches
• Acupuncture and osteoarthritis of the knee
• Migraine prevention with acupuncture treatment
• Postoperative pain management

A potential positive effect for:

• Acupuncture for acute low back pain
• Acupuncture and acute stroke/stroke rehabilitation
• Anxiety treated with acupuncture
• Insomnia treated with acupuncture
• Irritable bowel syndrome treated with acupuncture
• Acupuncture and labour pain reduction
• Acupuncture treatment for pain of the lateral elbow
• Menopausal hot flashes treatment with acupuncture
• Neck pain and acupuncture treatment
• Obesity management with acupuncture
• Plantar heel pain treatment with acupuncture
• Sciatica treatment with acupuncture
• Acupuncture treatment for shoulder pain
• Temporomandibular pain

Note: Lianne Aquilina aims to update information for the general public on the scientific status of acupuncture for a range of medically diagnosed conditions. Appraisal of scientific research requires a high level of critique, which requires skill and time. Individual case management in terms of research and clinical practice is provided for our patients. Please visit this page again or contact us.