Acupuncture helps Pain After Prostate Surgery

Acupuncture helps pain after prostate surgery, according to a German research team at University Hospital Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg. Their randomised controlled trial set out to evaluate the effectiveness of adding acupuncture to standard postoperative pain management for 126 patients undergoing open radical prostatectomy.

Patients were divided into three groups: standard analgesia; acupuncture plus standard analgesia; sham acupuncture plus standard analgesia. The acupuncture group reported significantly less postoperative pain than the other two groups. No significant differences were observed between groups on analgesic use and health status at discharge. The team concludes that incorporating acupuncture into postoperative pain management can improve patient postoperative outcomes.

(A randomized controlled study on acupuncture for peri-operative pain after open radical prostatectomy. British Journal of Urology International/BJU Int, 5 February 2024.)

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.