Florida Acupuncturist Works with Cancer Pain

From a Florida newspaper comes this story which highlights an acupuncturist who treats cancer patients for the pain and symptoms associated with their disease. This is something that we, as acupuncturists, help our clients cope with on a daily basis. Quite frequently, this is true for those patients who are either currently experiencing the prodigious use of drugs and radiation, or who have completed courses of treatment but who are still feeling pain, fatigue and other symptoms from their therapy. (the video from this story was no longer active as of this writing).

ABC News report: Acupuncture Useful for Cancer Pain, Symptoms

A recent ABC news report/video describes the multiple benefits experienced by patients undergoing cancer therapies who had been experiencing pain due to the cancer and side effects related to the treatments. The report combines descriptions of the firsthand experience from a variety of patients with acupuncture while citing several studies which, "... show [that] acupuncture alone cuts post-chemotherapy fatigue by 31 percent. It also cut hot flashes by 50 percent and slashed overall cancer pain by 36 percent."

Another source on this information, Oncology Nurse Advisor recommends acupuncture to manage symptoms of cancer, including fatigue. This is based on many sources, including a UCLA acupuncture study with cancer patients which found that, 

Fatigue was reduced by 66% among the study participants in the treatment group.

WebMD Writes on Acupuncture and Pain

WebMD describes a study which looks at how acupuncture changes the way in which the brain perceives pain. Good stuff.

Acupuncture for Knee Pain

From a Canadian newspaper comes an article describing the effective use of acupuncture for knee pain. At Castanet.net. Also, see my blog entry on knee pain at: NHCacupuncture.com/knee pain

Acupuncture Useful for Dry Mouth, Pain after Neck Cancer Surgery

On a website oriented toward physicians, there was a recent report on a study in the Journal of Clinical Oncology which demonstrated clear benefit for people suffering from xerostomia and pain after neck dissection for cancer in that region.

In summary, significant reductions in pain, dysfunction, and xerostomia were observed in study patients receiving acupuncture versus usual care. Acupuncture treatment was well tolerated. Although further study is needed, these data support the potential role of acupuncture in addressing post-neck dissection pain and dysfunction, as well as xerostomia," the authors conclude.

More recently a research study performed by the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center, in the journal Cancer, comparing standard care for dry mouth found, 

Saliva flow rates were greater in the acupuncture group, starting at three weeks into radiotherapy and persisting through the one and six month follow-up.

Those in the treatment arm received acupuncture therapy three times per week during the seven-week course of radiotherapy.

 A newspaper article about this study can be ready here.