A large retrospective cohort study undertaken in Korea, suggests that acupuncture is effective at reducing the likelihood of shoulder surgery. Using the Korean health service database, researchers compared the frequency of acromioplasty in patients who had previously received acupuncture, with those who had not. Shoulder disorders which featured included adhesive capsulitis, rotator cuff syndrome, shoulder impingement syndrome, and local sprain and strain. The acupuncture group contained over 111 000 patients, and the control group over 71 000 patients.
The study found that the frequency of acromioplasty was reduced in patients who had received acupuncture.
(Acromioplasty rates in patients with shoulder disorders with and without acupuncture treatment: a retrospective propensity score-matched cohort study. Acupuncture in Medicine, 20 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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