Period pain acupuncture

At World Congress of Pain held in Montréal: Acupuncture for Pain

At the recent World Congress of Pain held in Montréal, Canada, acupuncture emerged as a standout feature in a multitude of presentations. While I plan to delve into the specific studies in a subsequent post, I’d like to share a noteworthy observation here.

In the realm of physical therapies, acupuncture proved to be the undisputed frontrunner regarding the volume of studies presented at the congress. A striking 14 abstracts on acupuncture were showcased, compared to a mere 4 for physiotherapy, 1 for osteopathy, and none for chiropractic.

Pain congress: Acupuncture vs physiotherapy, osteopahty and chiropractic

This disparity underscores the growing interest and attention that the scientific community is directing toward acupuncture, setting it apart from other treatment modalities.

JAAPA logo: Acupuncture vs drugs pain relief

Acupuncture vs drugs

Amusing reasoning of advantages of acupuncture over drugs for pain relief in an article on military medicine:

“Imagine being a military medic on a combat patrol that is ambushed and suffers casualties. Although several of your wounded troops have painful injuries, their trigger fingers still work and you need them to continue fighting.

Instead of morphine, you grab your acupuncture needles and quickly stimulate the appropriate auricular acupoints. Pain relief is an essential component of combat casualty care; however, the use of narcotics risks taking the service member completely out of the fight.

Beyond pain control, the potential advantages of BA (battlefield acupuncture) to the injured warrior include staying in the fight with no alteration in sensorium and no nausea or vomiting. In addition, the use of narcotics would force the transport of patients on litters. More combat team members would be required to carry a patient than are required to provide ambulatory assistance for a patient still lucid enough to walk.”

Acupuncture for chronic knee pain

Researchers from Peninsula Medical School at the Universities of Exeter and Plymouth in the UK reviewed 13 studies and found 5 with more than 1300 patients with the knee pain.

According to the analysis acupuncture was superior to sham acupuncture (pretend acupuncture) for both pain and function. The effects were also significant at long-term follow-up.

This systematic review of acupuncture for knee pain was published in the Journal Rheumatology (Oxford). 2007 Mar;46(3):384-90.