Currency

Research Archive

Welcome to our Chinese medicine and acupuncture research news pages. We add to the content of these pages continuously as more research news comes in. Browse through the complete archive below or use the category links on the right.

Please note that the most twenty recent research archive items are free to view but access to the thousands of items in the archive require a journal subscription.

ACUPUNCTURE FOR LABOUR INDUCTION

Categories: Pregnancy & labour

Fifty-six primigravid women at 39 weeks or greater with a singleton gestation and Bishop score (a system for predicting whether induction of labour will be required) of less than seven were randomised to usual medical care or usual care plus three acupuncture treatments. Each treatment consisted of eight needles applied bilaterally to Hegu L.I.-4, Sanyinjiao SP-6, Shangliao BL-31 and Ciliao BL-32. ...

Acupuncture/pressure for morning sickness

Categories: Pregnancy & labour

A meta-analysis has examined the effects of various methods for stimulating acupuncture points (acustimulation, AS) for the prevention of nausea and vomiting in pregnant women (NVP). The authors identified 14 eligible trials published over the last 16 years, involving a total of 1615 women and using either acupressure, acupuncture or electrical stimulation (ETS) as a method of AS. After the treatm ...

TREATING PELVIC AND BACK PAIN IN PREGNANCY

Categories: Pregnancy & labour

A systematic review using the Cochrane database has assessed the effects of interventions for preventing and treating back and pelvic pain in pregnancy. Authors searched the Cochrane database for randomised controlled trials of any treatment used to prevent or reduce the incidence or severity of back or pelvic pain in pregnancy. Eight studies (1305 participants from five countries) were included i ...

ACUPUNCTURE PROMISING FOR PELVIC PAIN

Categories: Pregnancy & labour

A systematic review of the effectiveness of acupuncture in treating pelvic and back pain in pregnancy has found promising results. Two small trials on mixed pelvic/back pain and one large high-quality trial on pelvic pain met the inclusion criteria. The authors concluded that the current evidence, although limited, supports the use of acupuncture in treating the conditions. (Acupuncture for pelvic ...

ACUPUNCTURE EFFECTIVE FOR BREECH CORRECTION

Categories: Pregnancy & labour

A systematic review from Holland has concluded that acupuncture-type interventions (moxibustion, acupuncture, or electro-acupuncture) on Zhiyin BL 67 are effective in correcting breech presentation, compared with expectant management. Of 65 citations retrieved from various databases, six RCTs and three cohort studies fulfilled the reviewer's inclusion criteria. In the RCTs the pooled proportion of ...

ACUPUNCTURE FOR PELVIC GIRDLE PAIN (PGP) DURING PREGNANCY

Categories: Pregnancy & labour

Swedish researchers have compared acupuncture with non-penetrating sham acupuncture in women with pelvic girdle pain (PGP) during pregnancy. In a randomised double-blinded controlled trial 115 pregnant women with PGP were randomly allocated to standard treatment plus acupuncture or to standard treatment plus non-penetrating sham acupuncture for eight weeks. After treatment, median pain decreased i ...

ACUPUNCTURE SHORTENS LABOUR

Categories: Pregnancy & labour

A Canadian team has investigated the effectiveness of acupuncture for the initiation of labour in a prospective pilot RCT. Sixteen pregnant women at term were randomly assigned to receive acupuncture either at sites reported to cause onset of labour or at nearby sham sites. The results showed a difference in intervention to delivery interval of 62 hours in favour of the treatment group. Women in t ...

ACUPUNCTURE IN LABOUR IMPROVES BABIES CONDITION AT BIRTH

Categories: Pregnancy & labour

Researchers in Denmark have compared acupuncture with transcutaneous electric nerve stimulation (TENS) and analgesic medication for pain relief during labour. 607 healthy women in labour at term were randomised to receive acupuncture, TENS or analgesics. Pain scores were comparable in all groups, but use of pharmacological and invasive methods was found to be significantly lower in the acupuncture ...

ACUPUNCTURE RELIEVES DYSPEPSIA IN PREGNANCY

Categories: Pregnancy & labour

Acupuncture may help alleviate dyspepsia during pregnancy, according to a Brazilian team. Forty-two pregnant women with dyspepsia were randomly allocated to receive acupuncture or conventional treatment alone. Significant improvements in symptoms were found in the acupuncture group, who also used less medication. (Acupuncture for dyspepsia in pregnancy: a prospective, randomised, controlled study. ...