American researchers have shown that acupuncture produces significant improvements in symptoms and quality of life scores, for patients with advanced breast and ovarian cancer. In a pilot trial, forty patients were given 12 acupuncture treatments over eight weeks, with follow-up assessment one week and four weeks after the end of the trial.
Across the 32 patients who were fully assessed at the end, there was self-reported improvement immediately after treatment, in anxiety, fatigue, pain and depression. There was also significant improvement over time in anxiety and depression. Quality of life scores of pain, life satisfaction, mood states and psychological distress, also improved during treatment, and showed sustained improvement at the four week follow-up.
(Acupuncture as Palliative Therapy for Physical Symptoms and Quality of Life for Advanced Cancer Patients. Integrative Cancer Therapies, 18 May 2010.)
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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