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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 reduces anxiety of eye surgery

Categories: Psychological / emotional, Eye disorders

An Italian study has found that patients undergoing cataract removal are less anxious after receiving acupuncture. Participants underwent phacoemulsification, in which the cloudy eye lens is emulsified with an ultrasound probe, before being aspirated and replaced by an artificial lens. The procedure is carried out under topical anaesthesia while the patient is awake and can therefore provoke signi ...

Acupuncture for post-traumatic stress

Categories: Psychological / emotional

A pilot study has evaluated the efficacy of acupuncture for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Participants diagnosed with PTSD were randomised to either an empirically developed acupuncture treatment, cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT), or a wait-list control. The primary outcome measure was self-reported PTSD symptoms, assessed at baseline, end of treatment and at three-month follow-up. Acu ...

Acupuncture for anxiety

Categories: Psychological / emotional

A systematic review of the evidence for the efficacy of acupuncture in the treatment of anxiety disorders has shown positive findings. Authors based at London's University of Westminster performed searches of the major biomedical databases as well as specialist CAM databases. Twelve controlled trials were located, of which ten were randomised controlled trials (RCTs). All trials reported positive ...

Acupuncture effective for depression

Categories: Psychological / emotional

Chinese researchers have carried out a meta-analysis to assess the benefits of acupuncture as a treatment for depression. The analysis included eight small randomised controlled trials involving a total of 477 subjects. Their results suggested that acupuncture was an effective treatment for depression and could significantly reduce the severity of the disease. (Is acupuncture beneficial in depress ...

QIGONG FOR STRESS

Categories: Psychological / emotional

A small American study has investigated the effectiveness of a qigong training program in reducing stress in hospital staff. Thirty-seven subjects were randomly assigned to a six-week intervention of either qigong practice or a waiting list. The qigong group demonstrated a statistically significant reduction of perceived stress compared to the control group and also experienced a significant reduc ...

Acupressure at yintang reduces kids pre-op anxiety

Categories: Psychological / emotional

Acupressure at Yintang (M-HN-3) has been found to reduce preprocedural anxiety in children undergoing endoscopic examination. In the American study, fifty-two children were randomised to receive an acupressure bead placed either at Yintang (M-HN-3) or at a sham point above the left eyebrow. Children in the Yintang group were found to have experienced reduced anxiety during the 30 minute pre-operat ...

AURICULAR ACUPUNCTURE FOR REPETITIVE SELF-INJURY

Categories: Psychological / emotional

A Canadian pilot study has tested the feasibility and potential efficacy of auricular acupuncture for the treatment of repetitive self-injurious behaviour (SIB) in depressed adolescents. In addition to providing relief of depressive symptoms there is evidence of an addictive component to this behaviour. Nine adolescent patients received three acupuncture treatments, once a week, over three weeks. ...

Acupuncture effective for depression

Categories: Psychological / emotional

A systematic review and meta-analysis of acupuncture for various depressive conditions has concluded that it is safe and constitutes an effective treatment for some forms of depression. Of 207 clinical studies of acupuncture retrieved from databases, twenty were considered to be of high enough quality to be subjected to meta-ananysis. The results showed that the efficacy of acupuncture as monother ...

ACUPUNCTURE LOWERS ANTIDEPRESSANT REQUIREMENT

Categories: Psychological / emotional

Adding acupuncture to medical treatment for depression can reduce the amount of drugs needed to treat the condition and therefore reduce the side-effects of medication. In a Chinese randomised, double-blind, sham-controlled study 80 patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) were randomised to two groups: one received standardised verum acupuncture, 10 mg/day fluoxetine and placebo (VA) and the ...