Episiotomy Pain Successfully Treated with Acupuncture

An abstract reprinted here:

Italian clinicians have successfully used acupuncture to relieve perineal pain after episiotomy. Forty-two women who had an episiotomy during childbirth were enrolled in a pilot study. Women in the acupuncture group were significantly less likely to experience pain; 38.1% of women in the acupuncture group asked for analgesics, while all women in the control group requested oral analgesics because of perineal pain. Wrist-ankle acupuncture as perianal pain relief after medio-lateral episiotomy: a pilot study. Journal of Alternative and Complement Med. 2011 Mar;17(3):239-41.

Eye Diseases, Acupuncture, and Chinese Medicine

Chinese medicine has been used to treat a wide variety of eye diseases for more than three thousand years and can often have startlingly dramatic effect upon serious and progressive illness.

Below I am including a few of the recent studies which use modern scientific methods to validate the techniques which we have been using for millenium.

Acupuncture reduces eye pressure in glaucoma

• [As reported in the Journal of Chinese Medicine] Acupuncture appears to benefit glaucoma patients by decreasing intraocular pressure (IOP) and improving blood circulation behind the eye. In the first study of its type, Japanese researchers enrolled eleven patients with open-angle glaucoma (OAG) and measured eye haemodynamics before, during and after either acupuncture or rest. Acupuncture was performed once, for 15 minutes, without needle manipulation, at bilateral Zanzhu BL-2, Taiyang M-HN-9, Sibai ST-2, Zusanli ST-36, Sanyinjiao SP-6, Taixi KID-3, Taichong LIV-3, Fengchi GB-20, Ganshu BL-18 and Shenshu BL-23. All patients continued to take their medication. The researchers found that IOP decreased significantly after acupuncture. Acupuncture also resulted in decreased resistance in blood vessels behind the eye, specifically ophthalmic and short posterior ciliary arteries. (Short-term effects of acupuncture on open-angle glaucoma in retrobulbar circulation: additional therapy to standard. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2011;2011:157090. Epub 2011 Mar 7).

• From a Japanese medical school's research department comes this study, titled Acupuncture for Patients with Glaucoma. The researchers looked at the effects of an acupuncture method for patients with glaucoma, focusing on intraocular pressure (IOP) and visual acuity. The study used acupuncture twice weekly over 5 weeks. The results showed that intraocular pressure was significantly improved at 15 minutes after acupuncture, at one week, two weeks, and five weeks and tended to be lower weekly. Uncorrected visual acuity was significantly improved at three weeks, four weeks, and five weeks, and best corrected visual acuity was significantly improved at five weeks. 

• A German study, from Forsch Komplementarmed Klass Naturheilkd, entitled, Standardized Acupuncture Therapy in Patients with Ocular Hypertension or Glaucoma--Results of a Prospective Observation StudyAugenärztliche Praxis, showed that, compared with the mean intraocular pressure in both eyes before treatment (21.94 +/- 2.4 mm Hg), patients showed a significant decrease 15 min after treatment (-2.67 +/- 1.34 mm Hg) as well as 24 h after treatment (-2.5 +/- 2.13 mm Hg). There was no significant difference between the mean intraocular pressure at 15 min after treatment and at 24 h after treatment. No adverse events were observed.The results of this study indicate that acupuncture therapy may be a valid treatment option for glaucoma and ocular hypertension patients. Additional and, if possible, randomized studies investigating the effectiveness of acupuncture in the treatment of the above-mentioned conditions still need to be conducted.

• From the journal, Medical Acupuncture, comes a followup to an initial study of acupuncture for macular degeneration with a modified protocol and an analysis of the improvement that many patients found with acupuncture therapy. 

Crohn's Disease Treatable by Acupuncture, Study Says

A recent study in the Journal of Acupuncture demonstrates, yet again, the utility of Chinese medicine in treating Crohn's disease. The article, cited here, describes the study which looked at the treatment of several acupoints in managing the disease, which is characterized by chronic inflammation of the intestinal tract. This inflammation often leads to diarrhea, abdominal bloating and pain, vomiting, weight loss, eye disorders, arthritis, dermatological disorders, and fatigue.

Image courtesy of http://www.radpod.org/2006/12/02/crohns-disease-2/

There are many other studies, from around the world which demonstrate the utility of Chinese medicine in treating this digestive problem. Among them is a German study published in Digestion [abstract readable here], which concluded that, "...traditional acupuncture offers an additional therapeutic benefit in patients with mild to moderately active CD."

Acupuncture and Chinese herbal therapy have a long history of treating this disorder, often very successfully. At the Northside Holistic Center we frequently treat Crohn's, ulcerative colitis, and other chronic digestive issues.

Menopausal Hot Flashes Respond to Acupuncture

It seems like every month or two a new study is published which demonstrates the utility of acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine for hot flashes. One would think this would be common knowledge in the Western medical community, by now. The most recent study, reported on in Business Week, showed that, "After 10 weeks, the women in the traditional acupuncture group had significantly less severe hot flashes and mood swings than those who'd gotten the fake treatment."

There have been literally scores of studies which demonstrate the benefit of acupuncture and Chinese herbology for hot flashes (see here for a few more). Of course, this is nothing new to those of us who work with menopausal symptoms each day in our clinics or for the women treated by those acupuncturists over the last few thousand years. Still it is reassuring to see so many studies being performed which back up our empirical experience with results that will help to convince a gradually thawing western medical audience that we can offer substantial benefit to their patients.

Retinitis Pigmentosa May Respond to Acupuncture

Reprinted from Journal of Clinical Acupuncture and Moxibustion and as reported here. 

Mounting evidence suggests that acupuncture is an effective treatment for retinitis pigmentosa (RP), a degenerative eye disorder that may to lead to blindness. A recent study published in the Journal of Clinical Acupuncture and Moxibustionconcludes that acupuncture treatment protects the optic nerve from damage caused by intraocular pressure by alleviating stresses on retinal and optic nerve axonal ultrastructures.¹ The Chinese Journal of Integrated Traditional and Western Medicine published that the use of Chinese medicine improved retinal cone activity for patients with retinitis pigmentosa, even in cases of advanced retinal degeneration. Using electroretinograms for the investigation, the study also concludes that, “TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) treatment could also enhance the bioactivity of (the) nerve network and therefore have a definite significance in retarding the progression of disease and keeping the central vision.”² In another study, injections of She Xiang into acupuncture points UB18 and UB23 helped patients with retinitis pigmentosa. The study concludes that injection of She Xiang into Ganshu (UB18) and Shenshu (UB23) “can improve effectively the function and metabolism of optic cells, promote blood circulation of the retina, enhance the visual acuity, and protect the central vision for the patient of retinitis pigmentosa.”³ Yet another study of retinitis pigmentosa patients receiving acupuncture (ranging from ages 7 – 75 years) showed significant improvement and a halting of deterioration of the visual field.⁴

 We also treat many vision problems related to stroke, infection, trauma, glaucoma, and other forms of retinitis.

References:
1 Sun He , Zhang Hu. The Protective Effect of Acupuncture Treatment on Retinal and Optic Nerve Axonal Ultrastructure in Rabbit Eyes with Chronic Elevated IOP. Journal of Clinical Acupuncture and Moxibustion. 2010-05.
2 Wu Xing-Wei; Tang You-zhi. Study on Treatment of Retinitis Pigmentosa with Traditional Chinese Medicine by Flicker Electroretinogram. CHINESE JOURNAL OF INTEGRATED TRADITIONAL AND WESTERN MEDICINE. 1996-06.
3 Hao Xiaobo, Wang Guihong, Peng Changxin, et al. (Department of Ophthalmology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi University of TCM, Nanning 530023, China). Study on treatment of retinitis pigmentosa with acupoint injection of Shexiang Injection. Chinese Acupuncture and Moxibustion. 2003-4.
4 Reddy NS, Fouzdar NM. Role of acupuncture in the treatment of `Incurable' retinal diseases. Indian J Ophthalmol 1983;31:1043-6.
5 Wu Xing-Wei; Tang You-zhi. Study on Treatment of Retinitis Pigmentosa with Traditional Chinese Medicine by Flicker Electroretinogram. CHINESE JOURNAL OF INTEGRATED TRADITIONAL AND WESTERN MEDICINE. 1996-06.