Acupuncture Improves Recovery after Knee Replacement

Acupuncture improves recovery after knee replacement.

Electro-acupuncture in addition to conventional anaesthesia delivered during total knee replacement procedures, improves functional recovery, pain, circulation and swelling. In a Chinese trial of 200 participants, patients were randomly allocated to one of four groups: intravenous analgesia, femoral nerve block analgesia, or each of the foregoing plus electro-acupuncture.

Electro-acupuncture plus femoral nerve block was associated with a significantly lower incidence of deep vein thrombosis, compared with the other three groups. Seven days after surgery, blood flow in the two electro-acupuncture groups was significantly better than in the other two groups. With less post-operative pain, the electro-acupuncture plus femoral nerve block group, was able to participate in rehabilitation exercises sooner.

(The Preventive Effect of Computed Tomography Image-Guided Electroacupuncture Combined with Continuous Femoral Nerve Block on Deep Vein Thrombosis After Total Knee Arthroplasty Based on an Adaptive Algorithm. World Neurosurgery, May 2021.)

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.