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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.

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

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 children headaches

Childhood headaches can feel like an endless journey. I know this because I’ve lived it.

When my son was five, any car trip over ten minutes would leave him clutching his head in agony. Every extra minute was torturous for him and for us. As a responsible parent (and an acupuncturist), I suggested we try acupuncture. He flatly refused. So I waited.

Fast-forward almost a year, and we were preparing for a 24-hour flight to Europe. My six-year-old sidled up to me and asked, “If I have some acupuncture, will I still get the headaches?” Suddenly, the very treatment he’d loathed had become his own request.

I completely understand why parents hesitate: kids can be frightened of needles. That’s why we offer gentle laser acupuncture—no needles, just a warm, soothing beam that’s perfectly safe for children.

Here’s the science behind it. German researchers conducted a study, to investigate whether laser acupuncture is effective in children with headache.

They divided the kids in two groups with headache (either migraine (22 patients) or tension type headache (21 patients). Kids randomly received a course of 4 treatments over four weeks with either active or placebo laser.

The treatment was highly individualised based on criteria of Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM).

Researches measured children’s pain levels during 4 weeks before randomization (baseline), at weeks 1-4, 5-8, 9-12 and 13-16 from baseline. The mean number of headaches per month decreased significantly by 6.4 days in the real laser acupuncture group. It means kids suffered less after the treatment!

It is a pity that the parents perceive that acupuncture is not for children. As per this study, laser acupuncture is highly effective for kids suffering from headaches.

A study published in medical journal Pain.