Acupuncture helps Breathing in COPD

Research in Japan shows acupuncture is associated with clinically relevant improvements in shortness of breath on exertion, in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

A total of 68 patients with COPD were randomised to receive either acupuncture, or non-penetrating placebo acupuncture, in both cases in addition to usual care. Treatment was spread over 12 weeks, following which breathlessness scores after a six minute walk, were significantly better in the real acupuncture group compared with the placebo group. In addition though, patients in the real acupuncture group showed clinically relevant improvements in nutritional status, body-mass index, airflow obstruction, exercise capacity, and health-related quality of life; no such improvements were exhibited by the placebo group.

This research has been described as thoughtful and methodologically rigorous, and the team include some speculative ideas on how acupuncture may be able to help COPD patients by relaxing hyper-activated respiratory muscles.

(A Randomised, Placebo-Controlled Trial of Acupuncture in Patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD): The COPD-Acupuncture Trial. Archives of Internal Medicine, June 2012.)

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.