Acupuncture for Chronic Pelvic Pain

Acupuncture for chronic pelvic pain. Research into acupuncture for chronic pelvic pain, shows it is as effective as local anaesthetic injections in reducing symptoms of myofascial pain. A team at the Ribeirao Preto Medical School , University of Sao Paulo, randomly assigned 35 women to receive either acupuncture or local anaesthetic injections. Acupuncture was given once a week for ten weeks. Anaesthetic was given once a week for four weeks. Patients’ pain was evaluated after one week, and at one, three and six months into the study .

Acupuncture was found to be as effective as the anaesthetic injections in reducing pain. The researchers point out however, that whereas adverse events with acupuncture are very rare, long term use of anaesthetics can be associated with neurotoxicity, myotoxicity and sensorimotor deficits.

(Ashi Acupuncture Versus Local Anesthetic Trigger Point Injections in the Treatment of Abdominal Myofascial Pain Syndrome: A Randomized Clinical Trial. Pain Physician, September 2020.)

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.