INFORMATIVE ARTICLES

World Health Organization (WHO) full report
Acupuncture Review and Analysis of Reports on Controlled Clinical Trials

Informed Consent for Acupuncture – An Information Leaflet Developed by Consensus
Acupuncture in Medicine 2001; 19 (2) Dec:
This 7 page Adobe Acrobat (PDF) article contains an informed consent page at the end.

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Pain Treated with Low-level Laser and Microamperes Transcutaneous Electric Nerve Stimulation: A Controlled Study
Arch Phys Med Rehabil 2002; 83 (7) Jul: 978–988
Significant decreases in MPQ score, median nerve sensory latency, and Phalen and Tinel signs after the real treatment series but not after the sham treatment series. Patients could perform their previous work (computer typist, handyman) and were stable for 1 to 3 years.

Acupuncture as Complementary Therapy for Back Pain
Holist Nurs Pract 2001; 15 (3) Apr: 35–44
Research has demonstrated that acupuncture may benefit those who suffer from back pain when they have failed to respond to previous treatment by drugs, bed rest, epidural injection, physiotherapy, osteopathy, chiropractics, and surgery. Acupuncture is a powerful and complementary therapy for back pain.

Acupuncture Treatment During Labour: A Randomised Controlled Trial
BJOG 2002; 109 (6) Jun: 637–644
Acupuncture treatment during labour significantly reduced the need of epidural analgesia . Parturients who received acupuncture assessed a significantly better degree of relaxation compared with the control group. No negative effects of acupuncture given during labour were found in relation to delivery outcome.

Acupuncture Superior to Drug Therapy for Migraines
In one of the largest studies of its kind to date, a team of investigators in Italy examined the effectiveness of acupuncture versus a variety of pharmacological therapies in treating migraines. Their results, published in a recent issue of the Journal of Traditional Chinese Medicine, revealed that patients given acupuncture experienced fewer migraine episodes, missed fewer days from work, and suffered no side effects compared to patients on conventional drug therapy. They also found acupuncture to be more cost–efficient, estimating a savings of hundreds of millions of dollars in private and social health expenditures if it were used to treat headaches alone instead of drugs.

Acupuncture and Stroke Recovery
Johansson et al (1993) investigated the effectiveness of acupuncture as a supplement to physical therapy in recovery from stroke. Pang (1994) investigated two particular scalp acupuncture techniques in order to compare their effectiveness in treating apoplexy following stroke.

Acupuncture and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)
Two recent studies compare acupuncture with “sham” and demonstrate significant improvements in asthma symptons.

Acupuncture and Raynaud’s Disease
A recent study indicates that acupuncture surpasses drug treatment for Raynaud’s disease, a vascular disorder that causes the small arteries of the hands and, less commonly, the feet to spasm during exposure to cold or stress. The appendages go white and sometimes hurt due to insufficient blood flow.

Acupuncture and Crack–Cocaine Addiction
Lipton et al (1994) investigated ear acupuncture in treatment of cocaine dependency over a one–month period. 150 patients were randomly assigned to an experimental group and a placebo–control group. Konefal, Duncan and Clemence (1994) found a 57% reduction in the time it took to achieve a negative urine test with acupuncture.

Beyond Endorphins in Acupuncture Analgesia: The Science Behind the Art
In the last 20 years much has been written about acupuncture and its efficiency in relieving pain. The ancient Chinese clinicians practised acupuncture based on Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) principles using well established guidelines. Their reasoning were based on empirical responses rather than scientific principles. This discussion hopes to bring to highlight some recent research findings.

The Twelve Primary Qi Channels
This article reviews the twelve primary Qi (or Meridian) channels.

Which Diseases Can Be Helped by Acupuncture?
HealthWorld has excerpted sections from Lewith’s “Acupuncture: It’s Place in Western Medical Science”