An international team has shown that acupuncture helps tennis elbow, and can improve both pain and function. A total of 96 patients, aged 18 to 80, with chronic unilateral tennis elbow, were randomised to receive either true acupuncture or a sham laser treatment as a control. Both groups received three sessions per week for three weeks, at centres in Italy, Australia, Hong Kong and China.
At post-treatment follow-up, the researchers found significant differences in disability and pain scores between the two groups, in favour of true acupuncture. At all time points measured, the acupuncture group contained a greater number of subjects reporting pain relief in excess of 30%.
(A multi-center international study of Acupuncture for lateral elbow pain – Results of a randomized controlled trial. European Journal of Pain, 17 April 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.
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