Acupuncture helps Chronic Pelvic Pain in Men

Researchers have found that acupuncture can significantly improve symptoms in men with chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome. One hundred patients in an outpatient urology clinic were randomised to receive acupuncture at either seven pairs of acupoints or seven nearby sham points. Prostate symptom scores were compiled for each patient at 6,8,16 and 24 weeks after treatment.

At 8 week follow-up, in the real acupuncture group, 92% of patients showed in excess of a 50% decrease in symptom scores. By comparison, the corresponding figure for the sham group was only 48%. Throughout the follow-up period, both groups exhibited a significant decrease in scores, but the decrease in the real acupuncture group remained significantly greater.

(Acupuncture relieves symptoms in chronic prostatitis/ chronic pelvic pain syndrome: a randomized, sham-controlled trial. Journal of Prostate Cancer & Prostatic Diseases, September 2015.)