Researchers have found that acupuncture can significantly improve symptoms in men with chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome. One hundred patients in an outpatient urology clinic were randomised to receive acupuncture at either seven pairs of acupoints or seven nearby sham points. Prostate symptom scores were compiled for each patient at 6,8,16 and 24 weeks after treatment.
At 8 week follow-up, in the real acupuncture group, 92% of patients showed in excess of a 50% decrease in symptom scores. By comparison, the corresponding figure for the sham group was only 48%. Throughout the follow-up period, both groups exhibited a significant decrease in scores, but the decrease in the real acupuncture group remained significantly greater.
(Acupuncture relieves symptoms in chronic prostatitis/ chronic pelvic pain syndrome: a randomized, sham-controlled trial. Journal of Prostate Cancer & Prostatic Diseases, September 2015.)
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.
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