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Research Proves that Acupuncture Treats More Than Just Pain
By Steven Sonmore L. Ac. | July 29, 2006
Many people have asked me if acupuncture treats fibromyalgia. Now a recent study at the Mayo Clinic proves that acupuncture does indeed treat this malady successfully. In fact, doctors and researchers were amazed that acupuncture treats far beyond just the symptoms of pain. It addresses the fatigue and anxiety associated with fibromyalgia.
This is totally in sync with what Oriental medicine has been teaching for thousands of years. Practitioners of traditional Oriental medicine treat the Three Treasures…Shen, Qi and Jing. Shen is consciousness and spirit. Qi is the vital life energy that animates your body. Jing is the material substance of your body. So that is why acupuncture is successful…it treats the physical, mental and emotional levels.
Fibromyalgia is characterized by chronic, widespread musculoskeletal pain and symptoms such as fatigue, joint stiffness and sleep disturbance. No cure is known and available treatments are only partially effective.
But according to a research team led by Dr. David Martin, an anesthesiologist at the Mayo Clinic, fibromyalgia patients who received acupuncture reported improvement in fatigue and anxiety, among other symptoms. This work lends credence to patients’ belief that nontraditional methods may improve their health, they noted.
The study involved 50 fibromyalgia patients enrolled in a randomized, controlled trial to determine if acupuncture improved their symptoms. Twenty-five in the acupuncture group and 25 in the control group.
In the acupuncture group, the researchers found the fibromyalgia symptoms were significantly improved compared with the control group during the study period. Fatigue and anxiety were the most significantly improved symptoms during the follow-up period.
“We found that acupuncture significantly improved symptoms of fibromyalgia. Symptomatic improvement was not restricted to pain relief and was most significant for fatigue and anxiety,” the researchers concluded.
According to Martin, the study demonstrated that acupuncture is helpful, and also proves physicians can conduct a rigorous, controlled acupuncture study.
Patients are increasingly interested in pursuing complementary medicine techniques, such as the acupuncture, in conjunction with their mainstream medical care, Martin said.
“It affirms a lot of clinical impressions that this complementary medical technique is helpful for patients,” he added.
References: Xinhua
http://astore.amazon.com/acupuncturere-20
Topics: Fibromyalgia | 1 Comment »
October 24th, 2007 at 9:59 pm
Good to see a good piece of research. Also that we are finally getting beyond the ‘acupuncture just treats pain’ line.