Ear Acupuncture Reduces Pain After Surgery

Acupuncture in Exeter: ear acupuncture reduces pain after surgery American clinicians have found that a type of ear acupuncture termed battlefield acupuncture, reduces pain and opioid use in military veterans undergoing surgery. A total of 72 patients, mean age 64 and scheduled for major surgery under general anaesthesia, were randomly assigned to receive either ear acupuncture or sham acupuncture for postoperative pain. Surgery was typically abdominal, thoracic or for hip/knee replacements.

Median postoperative opioid consumption was significantly lower in the acupuncture group (18 units) compared to the sham group (39 units). Also lower in the acupuncture group, were subjective pain intensity, nausea and vomiting. Only one acupuncture group patient experienced nausea, compared with 13 in the sham group.

The researchers conclude that  the diminished postoperative pain intensity, reduced postoperative opioid requirement, and the lower incidence of postoperative nausea and vomiting observed, demonstrate the potential advantages of this low-cost and low-risk therapy in this patient population. Further research is needed to test its effectiveness in individual surgical procedures.

(Battlefield Acupuncture Use for Perioperative Anesthesia in Veterans Affairs Surgical Patients: A Single-Center Randomized Controlled Trial. Journal of Integrative & Complementary Medicine, 10 August 2022.)

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.