A team in Brazil studying acupuncture and headaches, has shown in a small trial that acupuncture can improve the effect of drug treatment. A total of 34 female patients aged 18 to 60, attending the Federal University of Maranhão’s hospital clinic, were randomised to receive either true acupuncture or sham acupuncture. The latter comprised non-insertive “needling”. Acupuncture was given twice a week for eight weeks. Both groups continued to take their prescribed pain medication.
Compared with the sham group, the true acupuncture group achieved significantly better control of their headaches in several respects, including number of headaches, pain intensity, quantity of medication used, and quality of life. The researchers conclude that acupuncture can be considered an auxiliary treatment for chronic headache.
(Effectiveness of acupuncture as auxiliary treatment on chronic headache. Journal of Acupuncture & Meridian Studies, 27 July 2018.)
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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