Acupuncture helps Fatigue in Breast Cancer Patients

In a randomised, controlled trial, researchers based in Manchester have assessed the effectiveness of acupuncture for cancer-related fatigue in breast cancer patients. They conclude it is an effective intervention for both managing fatigue, and improving patients’ quality of life.

A total of 302 outpatients were enrolled in the trial; 75 were randomly assigned to receive usual care, whilst 227 were assigned to receive acupuncture plus usual care. The acupuncture treatments were given once a week for six weeks. The usual care group received a booklet about fatigue and its management. Compared with the usual care group, the acupuncture group experienced significant improvements in physical fatigue, mental fatigue, anxiety, depression, and quality of life, the latter including emotional and functional well-being.

(Acupuncture for Cancer-Related Fatigue in Patients With Breast Cancer: A Pragmatic Randomized Controlled Trial. Journal of Clinical Oncology, epub ahead of print, 29 October 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.