Acupuncture decreases Preoperative Anxiety

Acupuncture research from Turkey: acupuncture decreases preoperative anxiety.

Researchers in the Department of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care, Ankara Training and Research Hospital in Turkey, have found that a single session of acupuncture using one traditionally calming acupuncture point, can reduce preoperative anxiety in adult surgical patients. Fifty-two patients were randomly assigned to receive either acupuncture at the point Yintang, located on the forehead, or they were needled at a sham point. Anxiety levels decreased significantly in the treatment group, whilst no change was observed in the sham group.

(Acupuncture on Yintang Point Decreases Preoperative Anxiety. Journal of Alternative & Complementary Medicine, 7 May 2013.)

Author: Robin Costello

I offer traditional Chinese acupuncture in Exeter, from a tranquil clinic a mile from the city centre, and next to the University of Exeter. I graduated originally from the London School of Acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine’s 3 year full time Acupuncture Diploma (DipAc) course. I am on the practitioners register of the British Acupuncture Council (MBAcC), a regulatory and professional body with an entry standard of a full three year undergraduate degree level training. I have worked in a hospital in south west China, deepening my knowledge and using acupuncture and Chinese massage (tuina) as the treatment of choice in its country of origin. I have taught Chinese medicine in colleges, the NHS and at university level. I also practise Qi Gong, and Chinese dietary therapy, that is the medicinal use of ordinary foods, chosen to help achieve particular therapeutic effects in different individuals.