A systematic review by authors at Stanford University’s Department of Medicine and the University of Bologna, has concluded that acupuncture and electrotherapy can reduce opioid consumption after total knee replacement (arthroplasty). A total of 39 randomised trials involving almost 2400 patients, were examined. The trials studied a variety of drug-free interventions including passive motion, preoperative exercise, cryotherapy, electrotherapy and acupuncture. Moderate-certainty evidence showed that acupuncture reduced and delayed opioid use, as did electrotherapy. There was also low-certainty evidence that acupuncture improved pain, based on patients’ visual analogue scores. None of the other therapies showed any significant effect on pain or opioid use.
(Drug-Free Interventions to Reduce Pain or Opioid Consumption After Total Knee Arthroplasty: A Systematic Review & Meta-analysis. Journal of the American Medical Association Surgery, 18 October 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.
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