Acupuncture for Chronic Pain

A large systematic review by researchers in the US, China and the University of Oxford, shows acupuncture should be given for at least five weeks in order to achieve 80% of maximum analgesic effect. A total of 77 randomised trials of acupuncture for chronic pain of the shoulder, neck, knee and lower back were included. They covered 8830 patients. Higher initial pain intensities were found to result in higher acupuncture pain relief.

(The response-time relationship and covariate effects of acupuncture for chronic pain: A systematic review and model-based longitudinal meta-analysis.European Journal of Pain, 13 June 2020.)

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.