Traditional Acupuncture Research

Traditional Chinese medicine has been helping people feel better for over two thousand years. Today in the west we are putting that ancient wisdom through scientific scrutiny. This page includes NIH statements regarding acupuncture and links to the latest news articles and research studies.

According to the National Institutes of Health:

"Preclinical studies have documented acupuncture's effects, but they have not been able to fully explain how acupuncture works within the framework of the Western system of medicine that is commonly practiced in the United States.

In 1997, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) issued a consensus statement on acupuncture that concluded that-

there is sufficient evidence of acupuncture's value to expand its use into conventional medicine and to encourage further studies of its physiology and clinical value

The NIH consensus statement said that-

the data in support of acupuncture are as strong as those for many accepted Western medical therapies.
There is clear evidence that needle acupuncture is efficacious for adult postoperative and chemotherapy nausea and vomiting and probably for the nausea of pregnancy... There is reasonable evidence of efficacy for postoperative dental pain... reasonable studies (although sometimes only single studies) showing relief of pain with acupuncture on diverse pain conditions such as menstrual cramps, tennis elbow, and fibromyalgia...

The NIH consensus statement on Acupuncture summarized and made a prediction:

Acupuncture as a therapeutic intervention is widely practiced in the United States. While there have been many studies of its potential usefulness, many of these studies provide equivocal results because of design, sample size, and other factors. The issue is further complicated by inherent difficulties in the use of appropriate controls, such as placebos and sham acupuncture groups. However, promising results have emerged, for example, showing efficacy of acupuncture in adult postoperative and chemotherapy nausea and vomiting and in postoperative dental pain. There are other situations such as addiction, stroke rehabilitation, headache, menstrual cramps, tennis elbow, fibromyalgia, myofascial pain, osteoarthritis, low back pain, carpal tunnel syndrome, and asthma, in which acupuncture may be useful as an adjunct treatment or an acceptable alternative or be included in a comprehensive management program. Further research is likely to uncover additional areas where acupuncture interventions will be useful.

The NIH's National Center For Complementary And Alternative Medicine continues to abide by the recommendations of the NIH Consensus Statement. "

*2008 Wikipedia

Links to some of the latest research articles and news links:

http://lib.bioinfo.pl/pmid:1514335- This is a link to a study on the efficacy of acupuncture with patients suffering from severe osteoarthrosis of the knee.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/28/health/policy/28acup.html- New York Times Article documenting the effectiveness of different acupunture treatments.

http://lib.bioinfo.pl/pmid:18258932- Meta-Analysis of the effects on acupuncture and fertilization rates in women who are also receiving in vitro fertilization treatment.

http://archives.cnn.com/1999/HEALTH/12/01/brain.acupuncture/- CNN writes "Brain imaging suggests acupuncture works"

http://lib.bioinfo.pl/pmid:18226614- Study showing benefits of acupuncture with dysmenorrhea.

http://lib.bioinfo.pl/pmid:18160924- Acupuncture in the treatment of fibromyalgia.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/03/29/healthmag.acupuncture/index.html-"Say Ah to Acupuncture" An article by CNN

http://lib.bioinfo.pl/pmid:17714105- Acupuncture in the treatment of myofacial pain

http://lib.bioinfo.pl/pmid:15280133- Study showing that acupuncture and moxibustion are a good way to safely resolve a breech presentation in pregnant women.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23355673/- This is an article on the latest research showing the effectivness of acupuncture for menstrual pain.