Category: Acupuncture Research & Miscellaneous Conditions

Acupuncture can assist with speech recovery after stroke, and may be associated with increased activity in the damaged speech areas of the brain.

Seven patients with speech loss following a stroke, were treated with acupuncture three times per week for eight weeks. Patients classified as well-recovered, showed significant improvement in speech scores after receiving acupuncture. Functional MRI scans also showed significant correlation between changes in speech scores, and blood oxygen dependent signals in part of the brain associated with speech interpretation and understanding.

(An fMRI Study showing the effect of Acupuncture in Chronic Stage Stroke Patients with Aphasia. Journal of Acupuncture & Meridian Studies, March 2010.)

The New England School of Acupuncture in Massachusetts has announced that it will receive $1.2 million from the US Department of Defence, to run a clinical trial of acupuncture for Gulf War illness (GWI).

The US military already use acupuncture for pain control in injured service men and women returning from frontline duty, and US armed forces have had their first full-time acupuncturist in the form of Dr Richard Niemtzow, for some time. There has also been some research looking at the ability of acupuncture to help with post-traumatic stress disorder in relation to war. Common GWI symptoms such as fatigue, musculoskeletal pain, headaches, dizziness, skin problems, indigestion, shortness of breath, irritability, anxiety, insomnia, and depression, are frequently treated by acupuncturists anyway. Participants will include 120 war veterans from the Boston/ New England area, to be treated by professional acupuncturists with a minimum of five years experience. The focus in each case will be the patient’s most distressing symptom.

More than 100 000 of 700 000 returning service personnel, seem to exhibit symptoms of GWI. These symptoms can persist for years after initial presentation, and their cause has so far eluded physical and laboratory investigation. Research at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is now pointing towards widespread nervous system damage as a possibility.

(The Acupuncturist, British Acupuncture Council Sept 2010; New England School of Acupuncture website news 23 June 2010.)

Researchers have carried out a systematic review of trials which have investigated the benefits of acupuncture for high blood pressure which is not secondary to any other medical condition (essential hypertension). Twenty trials were included, of which three were judged to be relatively rigorous in their design and general quality.

Overall, acupuncture was found to have significant effects on blood pressure compared to controls. In the rigorous trials in particular, acupuncture plus standard drug treatment, resulted in significantly lower blood pressure than sham control acupuncture plus drugs.

(Acupuncture for Essential Hypertension. Altern Ther Health Med March-April 2010.)

Acupuncture given before surgery, can help to protect the heart during heart valve replacement operations: damage to tissue caused when blood supply is restored after open-heart surgery, contributes to post-operative complications and mortality.

In a randomised, controlled trial, sixty patients were allocated to receive either a 30 minute electroacupuncture treatment on five consecutive days before surgery, or no treatment as a control. Measured at 6,12 and 24 hours after post-operative restoration of the heart’s blood supply, levels in the blood of a biochemical marker for heart muscle damage, were significantly lower in the electroacupuncture group compared to the control group. The former group were also found to require shorter stays in intensive care.

(Cardioprotective Effects of Electroacupuncture Pretreatment on Patients undergoing Heart Valve Replacement Surgery: A Randomised Controlled Trial. The Annals of Thoracic Surgery, March 2010.)

A pilot study has found that acupuncture can improve the symptoms and quality of life for men with chronic prostatitis/ chronic pelvic pain syndrome. Ninety-seven men were given six, weekly treatments of acupuncture for prostatitis, and results showed there to be a statistically significant improvement in all symptom scores (pain, urinary function, quality of life, and overall scores). In all, 92% of the men were classified as having responded to treatment, as defined by a greater than 50% decrease in symptom scores.

(Effectiveness of Acupuncture in Patients with Category IIIB Chronic Pelvic Pain Syndrome: A Report of 97 Patients. Pain Medicine, 31 March 2010.)