Acupuncture Research
Click here: EVIDENCE BASED ACUPUNCTURE
Pain
Acupuncture for Chronic Pain Journal of the American Medical Association. 2014 Mar 5 955-956 “Acupuncture is associated with improved pain outcomes compared with sham-acupuncture and no-acupuncture control, with response rates of approximately 30% for no acupuncture, 42.5% for sham acupuncture, and 50% for acupuncture.”
Acupuncture for Chronic Pain: Individual Patient data meta-analysis Journal of Pain, 2017 Nov 30 “Acupuncture is effective for the treatment of chronic musculoskeletal, headache, and osteoarthritis pain. Treatment effects of acupuncture persist over time and cannot be explained solely in terms of placebo effects. Referral for a course of acupuncture treatment is a reasonable option for a patient with chronic pain.”
Acupuncture for Chronic Pain-Related Depression: A systematic review and meta-analysis Journal of Pain and Research Management: Volume 2021 “The results of our current systematic review and meta-analysis show that compared with drug treatment, single acupuncture treatment has the same effect in reducing pain and relieving symptoms of depression in patients with CPRD, but the incidence of adverse reactions of acupuncture treatment is smaller. In addition, acupuncture combined with drug therapy has a better effect than a single drug.”
Acupuncture for Pain American Family Physician. Am Fam Physician. 2019 Jul 15;100(2):89-96 “In well-conducted systematic reviews, acupuncture has been shown to provide clinically and statistically significant improvement in patients with certain pain syndromes.”
Fertility
A landmark study by Wolfgang Paulus was published in 2001 in Fertility and Sterility. It showed that acupuncture increased the clinical pregnancy rates in the context of an IVF cycle as they found that there was a pregnancy rate of 42.5% in patients who had acupuncture versus 26.4% who did not.
They concluded that acupuncture seems to be a useful tool for improving pregnancy rates after ART (IVF/IUI). Fertility and Sterility April 2001
Another study published in Fertility and Sterility analyzed live births with frozen embryo transfers (FET) with comprehensive chromosomal screening (CCS). They concluded that “individualized acupuncture therapy with three or more visits and FET alone were associated with significantly more live births and fewer miscarriages when compared with ET Ac (embryo transfer day acupuncture alone).” Fertility and Sterility Oct 2020
Another study in 2009 from Fertility and Sterility looked at acupuncture treatments the day of an embryo transfer and found that “acupuncture patients reported significantly less anxiety post-transfer and reported feeling more optimistic about their cycle and enjoyed their sessions more than the control subjects.” Fertility and Sterility March 2009
Mental Health
Acupuncture and electroacupuncture for anxiety disorders “Overall, there is good scientific evidence encouraging acupuncture therapy to treat anxiety disorders as it yields effective outcomes, with fewer side effects than conventional treatment.”
Electroacupuncture and stress/depression “Electroacupuncture improves depressive behavior faster and with fewer adverse effects than antidepressant medication” (Duan, DM. 2016) “Acupuncture and Electroacupuncture (EA) can support and outperform medication for depression and anxiety without side effects”
Electroacupuncture and Anxiety “Acupuncture Increases Nocturnal Melatonin Secretion and Reduces Insomnia and Anxiety” (Warren Spence, 2004) “Acupuncture reduces anxiety and improves sleep quality”
Acupuncture and PTSD “Symptom reductions at end treatment were maintained at 3-month follow-up for both interventions. Acupuncture may be an efficacious and acceptable non-exposure treatment option for PTSD.”
Acupuncture and Chronic pain/Stress “Responders...were found to be less depressed, less passive and overly conventional, have shorter duration of pain, endorse less frequent exposure to stressors, and have less serious non pain-related illnesses. The findings are viewed as linking the intractability of pain states with psychosocial factors which may directly interfere with response to somatic modes of therapy or which may interfere via alterations of tonic neurohumoral factors.”
Electroacupuncture and Stress “The results of this study indicate that electroacupuncture at a specific point blocks the stress-induced elevations in the nervous system, which may be the reason why it has stress reducing effects. “
Psychology Today Review of Acupuncture Research and Evidence “Research findings support acupuncture as a treatment of anxiety.”
Acupuncture for Treatment of Insomnia: A Systematic Review of Randomized Controlled Trials
Pregnancy
Treating Pain in Pregnancy with Acupuncture: Observational Study Results from a Free Clinic in New Zealand – Elizabeth Soliday, Debra Betts. Journal of Acupuncture and Meridian Studies, Volume 11, Issue 1, February 2018, Pages 25-30
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2005290117301085 – Pain in pregnancy
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3943252/ – Comprehensive List
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3746244/ – Research on pregnancy
https://acupuncture.rhizome.net.nz/acupuncture/pregnancy-childbirth/research/ – Debra Betts – Comprehensive list for different issues
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31483927/ – Safety in pregnancy