Acupuncture for Carpal Tunnel Syndrome reduces Median Nerve Swelling

Researchers at the University Medical School and Research Hospital in Ankara, Turkey have found that acupuncture given to patients with carpal tunnel syndrome, reduces symptom severity as well as swelling of the median nerve. A total of 45 arms belonging to 27 female patients, were randomly allocated to either an acupuncture or control group. All patients used a wrist splint at night. In addition, the acupuncture group received treatment two to three times a week for four weeks, giving ten sessions in total.

Symptom severity, hand function and electromyographic measurements improved in both groups, but the acupuncture group exhibited significantly higher improvements. Further, the cross-sectional area of the median nerve, which can increase due to swelling, significantly decreased in the acupuncture group; there was no change in the control group.

(The Acupuncture Effect on Median Nerve Morphology in Patients with Carpal Tunnel Syndrome: An Ultrasonographic Study. Evidence-Based Complementary & Alternative Medicine, 6 June 2017.)

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.