Apr
01
2006

Back Pain Improves With Acupressure

By | Arthritis, Pain

This article is about “back pain improves with acupressure”. Generally, lower back pain can be a frustrating condition for patients. In addition, it is a major cause for disability and a source of depression. In particular, for the physician it becomes a vexing problem to find successful therapies. Pain medications and their side effects are often not acceptable for long-term use, and surgery very frequently will not be an option at all.
Additional therapies, which have been frequently used, are chiropractic treatment, massage therapy and physiotherapy. Frequently, the results can vary a great deal depending on the condition. Acupuncture has gained a solid position in the therapeutic approach of back pain, however the modality of acupressure treatment has not received much attention in conservative circles.

Conservative physiotherapy versus acupressure treatment

So far conservative voices could dispute the efficacy of acupressure due to a lack of research data, but new studies are now available coming from the National Taiwan University in Taipeh. Specifically, under the leadership of Professor Tony Hsiu-His Chen and a team of specialists, a randomized controlled trial with 129 patients suffering of chronic low back pain has been conducted. To clarify, the patients received physiotherapy or acupressure for one month as a modality of treatment.

At the end of treatment, the group treated with acupressure showed significantly less disability than the group treated with physiotherapy. The improvement in the disability score of patients treated with acupressure remained at six-month follow up examinations. Pain scores also remained reduced after treatment and at 6-month follow-up in the acupressure group.

Back Pain Improves With Acupressure

Back Pain Improves With Acupressure

These results point to the use of acupressure treatment as a very promising therapy for patients suffering of chronic low back pain.

More information on:

1. back pain: http://nethealthbook.com/arthritis/lower-back-pain/

2. Electro-acupuncture: https://www.askdrray.com/electro-acupuncture-twice-as-effective-as-conventional-acupuncture/

Reference: BMJ 2006; 332:696-700 (25 March, 2006)

Last edited Oct. 31, 2014

Apr
01
2004

Acupuncture For Headaches Found Effective

By | Pain, Prevention

For many years it was merely a clinical impression that some headache sufferers were helped by acupuncture. Over the years many attempted to show that acupuncture works for headaches, but the studies were done with too few patients to reach statistically meaningful results.

In a recent English study that was published by Andrew J Vickers et al. in the British Medical Journal on March 27, 2004 patients were randomly assigned to a conventional headache treatment protocol or to treatment with acupuncture. 401 patients were enrolled in this randomized study and the patients came from general practitioners in Wales and England. The patients all had similarly severe headaches or chronic headaches and had mainly migraines, but also tension type headaches. Several universities took part in the design of the study to ensure that the Cochrane criteria of evidence based medicine were adhered to. Headaches were measured according to a score that consisted of detailed standardized questionaires. Treatment with acupuncture consisted of 12 treatments over 3 months. The control headache group was treated with the usual care.

The headache sufferers were assessed at the 12 month point. There were significant differences in favor of the acupuncture treated patients. The acupuncture group had on average 22 fewer days of headaches per year than the control group. This resulted in 15% less medication use, 25% fewer doctor visits and 15% fewer sick days.

Acupuncture For Headaches Found Effective

Acupuncture For Headaches Found Effective

Acupuncture treated headache sufferers felt physically more active, they had more energy and they felt a positive change in their health.

More information about causes of headaches: http://nethealthbook.com/neurology-neurological-disease/common-causes-headaches/

British Medical Journal: BMJ 2004;328:744 (27 March).

Last edited October 26, 2014