Category: Acupuncture Research & Miscellaneous Conditions

Researchers in Italy have found that acupuncture prevents recurrence of arrhythmias in patients who have undergone cardioversion treatment (electrical stimulation of the heart back into regular rhythm) for persistent atrial fibrillation.

Eighty patients were enrolled in the study: 26 were already on a standard anti-arrhythmic drug, whilst the remaining 54 were randomly allocated to receive acupuncture, sham acupuncture, or neither the drug nor acupuncture. The acupuncture group received ten weekly treatments. During a one year follow-up period, arrhythmia recurrence rates were 27% in the drug group and 35% in the acupuncture group. However, in the sham acupuncture group, recurrence was 69%, and in the no-treatment group, it was 54%. Acupuncture was thus similar in benefit to standard drug treatment.

(Efficacy of Acupuncture in Preventing Atrial Fibrillation Recurrences After Electrical Cardioversion. Journal of Cardiovasc Electrophysiol. Aug 2010. Epub ahead of print.)

As a follow-on from the research reported here on 11 March 2009, Swedish scientists have demonstrated in a randomised controlled trial, that minimal acupuncture can reduce the intensity and duration of crying in infants with colic.

Ninety otherwise-healthy infants, aged two to eight weeks old, and with infantile colic, were assigned to receive either six acupuncture treatments over three weeks, or no acupuncture. Parents were blinded as to the allocation of their children. The results showed that infants who had acupuncture, recovered from colic more quickly, and exhibited less fussing and crying over the treatment period.

(Acupuncture Reduces Crying in Infants with Infantile Colic: A Randomised, Controlled Blind Clinical Study. Acupuncture in Medicine, Dec 2010.)

Acupuncture can assist with speech recovery after stroke, and may be associated with increased activity in the damaged speech areas of the brain.

Seven patients with speech loss following a stroke, were treated with acupuncture three times per week for eight weeks. Patients classified as well-recovered, showed significant improvement in speech scores after receiving acupuncture. Functional MRI scans also showed significant correlation between changes in speech scores, and blood oxygen dependent signals in part of the brain associated with speech interpretation and understanding.

(An fMRI Study showing the effect of Acupuncture in Chronic Stage Stroke Patients with Aphasia. Journal of Acupuncture & Meridian Studies, March 2010.)

The New England School of Acupuncture in Massachusetts has announced that it will receive $1.2 million from the US Department of Defence, to run a clinical trial of acupuncture for Gulf War illness (GWI).

The US military already use acupuncture for pain control in injured service men and women returning from frontline duty, and US armed forces have had their first full-time acupuncturist in the form of Dr Richard Niemtzow, for some time. There has also been some research looking at the ability of acupuncture to help with post-traumatic stress disorder in relation to war. Common GWI symptoms such as fatigue, musculoskeletal pain, headaches, dizziness, skin problems, indigestion, shortness of breath, irritability, anxiety, insomnia, and depression, are frequently treated by acupuncturists anyway. Participants will include 120 war veterans from the Boston/ New England area, to be treated by professional acupuncturists with a minimum of five years experience. The focus in each case will be the patient’s most distressing symptom.

More than 100 000 of 700 000 returning service personnel, seem to exhibit symptoms of GWI. These symptoms can persist for years after initial presentation, and their cause has so far eluded physical and laboratory investigation. Research at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is now pointing towards widespread nervous system damage as a possibility.

(The Acupuncturist, British Acupuncture Council Sept 2010; New England School of Acupuncture website news 23 June 2010.)

Researchers have carried out a systematic review of trials which have investigated the benefits of acupuncture for high blood pressure which is not secondary to any other medical condition (essential hypertension). Twenty trials were included, of which three were judged to be relatively rigorous in their design and general quality.

Overall, acupuncture was found to have significant effects on blood pressure compared to controls. In the rigorous trials in particular, acupuncture plus standard drug treatment, resulted in significantly lower blood pressure than sham control acupuncture plus drugs.

(Acupuncture for Essential Hypertension. Altern Ther Health Med March-April 2010.)