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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 post-traumatic stress

Categories: Psychological / emotional

The University of New Mexico Trauma & Anxiety Research Group is halfway through a 2-year study into the use of acupuncture in the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder. The group worked with an panel of 22 doctors of oriental medicine to develop an acupuncture strategy. The $250,000 study, funded by the National Institutes of Health's National Center for Complementary and Alternative Med ...

Acupuncture & anxiety

Categories: Psychological / emotional

In this study, patients who required ambulance transport secondary to medical conditions, were randomised to receive auricular acupressure either at the 'relaxation point or at a sham point. Patients treated with the true point reported significantly less anxiety than patients in the sham group on arrival at the hospital. Further, their perception of pain during treatment, as well as treatment out ...

Chinese herbs & dementia

Categories: Psychological / emotional

In a Japanese study, 33 patients with mild to moderate dementia were assigned to received either Ba Wei Di Huang Wan (Eight-Ingredient Pill with Rehmannia), 7.5g/day or placebo for 8 weeks. At the end of the study period, the treatment group showed significantly improved cognitive functioning and ability to complete day-to-day activities, compared to no improvement in the placebo group. The herbs ...

Acupuncture for pregnancy depression

Categories: Psychological / emotional

Pharmaceutical medication is largely unsuitable for depression during pregnancy and therefore any non-pharmaceutical alternative is potentially of great value. In a study carried out at Stanford University, 61 women with major depressive disorder were randomly assigned to receive one of three treatments: i. Individually tailored true acupuncture designed to treat their depression, ii. True acupunc ...

Chinese herbs for cognitive development

Categories: Psychological / emotional

A herbal supplement known as GETO, containing Ren Shen (Ginseng Radix), Yin Yang Huo (Epimedii Herba), Yuan Zhi (Polygalae Radix) and two other unnamed herbs might help prevent dementia. Seventy-five patients with mild cognitive impairment were given either GETO, piracetam (a drug thought to improve cognitive function) or placebos for three months.. Those who took the Chinese herbs demonstrated si ...

Xiao Yao Wan and Depression

Categories: Psychological / emotional

In a double-blind, placebo-controlled randomised controlled trial, the efficacy of i. Carbamazepine (CBZ), ii, CBZ plus the Chinese herbal medicine Free and Easy Wanderer (FEWP/Xiao Yao Wan), and iii. Placebo, was compared in the treatment of 124 bipolar depressed and 111 manic patients over a twelve week period. CBZ plus FEWP produced significantly better outcomes on three measures of depression ...

Laser acupuncture and depression

Categories: Psychological / emotional

In a double-blind randomised controlled trial, active laser acupuncture was found to be significantly more effective for the treatment of mild to moderate depression (at twelve weeks from trial onset) compared to sham laser acupuncture. In this trial, the practitioner did not know during treatment whether the laser device was active or not and was asked not to communicate with the patient other th ...

Acupuncture & Depression

Categories: Psychological / emotional

Previous studies have shown acupuncture at depression specific points to be superior to acupuncture at points not specific to depression (see NEWS 78 and 59). In a recent study, however, it appears that the non specific acupuncture was superior to the specific acupuncture. Study participants (151) were randomised to receive depression specific acupuncture, non-specific acupuncture or no treatment ...

Acupressure decreases dementia agitation

Categories: Psychological / emotional

A pilot study has suggests that acupressure can decrease the agitated behaviour associated with dementia. Thirty-one subjects with dementia were assigned to a six-week acupressure treatment programme consisting of five minutes treatment, twice a day, five days a week, for four weeks. After a treatment-free period of one week, all the subjects then served as controls, undergoing a four-week protoco ...