Clinicians at a specialist joint replacement centre in Minnesota, USA report that acupuncture seems to be a useful adjunct to drugs to control pain following total hip or knee replacement. Data from a sample of 2500 patients who were offered postsurgical acupuncture alongside the usual opioid drugs, showed an average 45% reduction in short-term pain. In fact 41% of the patients had been in moderate to severe pain prior to acupuncture, and this fell to only 15% after acupuncture.
(Acupuncture provides short-term pain relief for patients in a total joint replacement program. Pain Medicine, June 2015.
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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