by Almond Wellness Centre | Jan 3, 2019 | Acupuncture ivf research, Fertility, IVF acupuncture
Lee E. Lee E. Lee E. Declaration: Support provided by NIH/NCCAM grant R25 AT002879 (Suppl) and 1K23AT006392. LHR owned the acupuncture practice. The authors report no financial or commercial conflicts of interest. Highlights Whole Systems Traditional Chinese Medicine (WS-TCM) added to IVF may be beneficial. WS-TCM and IVF was associated with more live births compared with acupuncture and IVF. WS-TCM and IVF was associated with more live births compared with IVF alone. WS-TCM is individualized and includes acupuncture and other TCM interventions. Abstract Patients undergoing IVF may receive either acupuncture or whole-systems traditional Chinese medicine (WS-TCM) as an adjuvant IVF treatment. WS-TCM is a complex intervention that can include acupuncture, Chinese herbal medicine, dietary, lifestyle recommendations. In this retrospective cohort study, 1231 IVF patient records were reviewed to assess the effect of adjuvant WS-TCM on IVF outcomes compared among three groups: IVF with no additional treatment; IVF and elective acupuncture on day of embryo transfer; or IVF and elective WS-TCM. The primary outcome was live birth. Of 1069 non-donor cycles, WS-TCM was associated with greater odds of live birth compared with IVF alone (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] 2.09; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.36 to 3.21), or embryo transfer with acupuncture only (AOR 1.62; 95% CI 1.04 to 2.52). Of 162 donor cycles, WS-TCM was associated with increased live births compared with all groups (odds Ratio [OR] 3.72; 95% CI 1.05 to 13.24, unadjusted) or embryo transfer with acupuncture only (OR 4.09; 95% CI: 1.02 to 16.38, unadjusted). Overall, IVF with adjuvant WS-TCM was associated with greater odds of live birth in donor and non-donor cycles. These results should be taken...
by Almond Wellness Centre | Dec 17, 2018 | Fertility, Pregnancy, Women's health
Ried K1, Stuart K. Complement Ther Med. 2011 Dec;19(6):319-31. doi: 10.1016/j.ctim.2011.09.003. Epub 2011 Oct 5. CONCLUSIONS: Review suggests that management of female infertility with Chinese Herbal Medicine can improve pregnancy rates 2-fold within a 4 month period compared with Western Medical fertility drug therapy or IVF. Assessment of the quality of the menstrual cycle, integral to TCM diagnosis, appears to be fundamental to successful treatment of female infertility. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22036524 Chinese herbal medicine for female infertility: an updated meta-analysis. Ried K1.Complement Ther Med. 2015 Feb;23(1):116-28. doi: 10.1016/j.ctim.2014.12.004. Epub 2015 Jan 3. METHODS: We searched the Medline and Cochrane databases until December 2013 for randomized controlled trials and meta-analyses investigating Chinese herbal medicine therapy for female infertility and compared clinical pregnancy rates achieved with CHM versus WM drug treatment. RESULTS: Forty RCTs involving 4247 women with infertility were included in our systematic review. Meta-analysis suggested a 1.74 higher probability of achieving a pregnancy with CHM therapy than with WM therapy alone (risk ratio 1.74, 95%CI: 1.56-1.94; p<0.0001; odds ratio 3.14; 95%CI: 2.72-3.62; p<0.0001) in women with infertility. Trials included women with PCOS, endometriosis, anovulation, fallopian tube blockage, or unexplained infertility. Mean pregnancy rates in the CHM group were 60% compared with 33% in the WM group. CONCLUSIONS: Our review suggests that management of female infertility with Chinese herbal medicine can improve pregnancy rates 2-fold within a 3-6 month period compared with Western medical fertility drug therapy. In addition, fertility indicators such as ovulation rates, cervical mucus score, biphasic basal body temperature, and appropriate thickness of the endometrial lining were positively influenced by CHM therapy, indicating an ameliorating physiological effect conducive for...
by Almond Wellness Centre | Dec 17, 2018 | Acupuncture research, Natural Pain Management, Women's health
1. Armour, M. (2015). The effectiveness of acupuncture in the treatment of primary dysmenorrhea : a mixed methods study. TCM acupuncture, irrespective of treatment timing, provided significant clinical benefits for women with primary dysmenorrhea, with reductions in pain severity, duration, secondary menstrual symptoms and analgesic intake. https://researchdirect.westernsydney.edu.au/islandora/object/uws%3A35477 2. Mike Armour, etl July 12 2017. The role of treatment timing and mode of stimulation in the treatment of primary dysmenorrhea with acupuncture: An exploratory randomised controlled trial. Conclusion of this research: acupuncture treatment reduced menstrual pain intensity and duration after three months of treatment and this was sustained for up to one year after trial entry. The effect of changing mode of stimulation or frequency of treatment on menstrual pain was not significant. This may be due to a lack of power. The role of acupuncture stimulation on menstrual pain needs to be investigated in appropriately powered randomised controlled trials. https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0180177 3. V. Iorno,etl. Acupuncture Treatment of Dysmenorrhea Resistant to Conventional Medical Treatment. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2008 Jun; 5(2): 227–230. 4.Smith CA, etl.Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2016 Apr 18; Acupuncture for dysmenorrhoea. The Cochrane review found there is insufficient evidence to demonstrate whether or not acupuncture or acupressure are effective in treating primary dysmenorrhoea, due to the large volume of low-quality...
by Almond Wellness Centre | Dec 12, 2018 | Acupuncture research
Altern Ther Health Med. 2010 Nov-Dec;16(6):30-5. Liu H, Li H, Xu M, Chung KF, Zhang SP. Abstract BACKGROUND: Trigeminal neuralgia (TN) is a commonly seen pain condition with limited treatments available, and acupuncture is widely used for pain conditions, including TN. OBJECTIVES: To review the efficacy of acupuncture treatment for TN. METHODS: English and Chinese databases were searched extensively to identify randomized controlled studies of acupuncture treatment for TN. Selected studies were assessed for methodological quality. Odds ratios (OR) between treatment and control groups were used to assess efficacy. RESULTS: Twelve studies met the inclusion criteria with 506 people in the acupuncture arm and 414 people in the control arm, in which carbamazepine (CBZ) was used as the control treatment. They were all low-quality studies, hence precluding meta-analysis. Only four trials reported that acupuncture was superior to CBZ, and the remaining eight studies showed no difference between the treatment and control groups. Adverse effects of acupuncture, which were reported in three studies, were mild. CONCLUSION: The evidence reviewed previously suggests that acupuncture is of similar efficacy as CBZ but with fewer adverse effects in treatment of TN. However, the evidence is weak because of low methodological quality of the reviewed studies. Further studies with improved methodologies are recommended to support the use of acupuncture for...
by Almond Wellness Centre | Dec 12, 2018 | Uncategorized
Chinese Journal of Integrative Medicine November 2017, Volume 23, Issue 11, pp 829–836 Michelle Cristina Ichida Mariana Zemuner Jorge Hosomi Hong Jin Pai Manoel Jacobsen Teixeira José Tadeu Tesseroli de Siqueira Silvia R. D. T. de Siqueira Abstract Objective To evaluate the treatment effect of acupuncture on patients with idiopathic trigeminal neuralgia (ITN) by case-control longitudinal blinded study. Methods Sixty ITN patients and 30 healthy subjects were included. The ITN patients were randomly assigned to acupuncture group (15 cases), sham-acupuncture group (15 cases) and carbamazepine group (30 cases), respectively. Clinical orofacial evaluation (including pain intensity and medication doses), research diagnostic criteria for temporomandibular disorders (RDC/TMD) and Helkimo indexes (for functional evaluation of the masticatory system), and quantitative sensory testing for sensory thresholds (gustative, olfactory, cold, warm, touch, vibration and superficial and deep pain) were evaluated before treatment, immediately after treatment, and 6 months after treatment. Results The mean pain intensity by the Visual Analogue Scale only decreased in the acupuncture group at the last evaluation (P=0.012). Patients in the sham-acupuncture group had an increase in carbamazepine doses according to the prescriptions (P<0.01). There was a reduction in secondary myofascial pain and mandibular limitations at the acupuncture and sham-acupuncture groups, however only the acupuncture group kept the changes after 6 months (P<0.01, P=0.023). There was a decrease in mechanical thresholds in the acupuncture group (tactile, P<0.01; vibration, P=0.027) and an increase in deep pain thresholds in both acupuncture and sham-acupuncture groups (P=0.013). Conclusions Acupuncture can be an option in the treatment of ITN due to its analgesic effect in both ITN and secondary myofascial pain associated with it. Keywords acupuncture idiopathic trigeminal neuralgia orofacial pain temporomandibular disorders quantitative sensory testing case-control...
by Almond Wellness Centre | Dec 10, 2018 | Clinic office
May the Holiday season fill your home with joy, your heart with love, and your life with laughter. Have a healthy, happy, and peaceful New Year. Important Information for Private Health Fund Members – massage therapy, acupuncture and chiropractic The New Year is fast approaching and for many Private Health Fund Members it signals the expiry of your insurance entitlements for 2018. Many Health Fund Providers run on a calendar year and they tend not to carry over unused funds to the following year. Now is not only the time to check that you are taking full advantage of your Health Insurance entitlements, but also to ensure that you are keeping fit, healthy and pain free for the festive season. Almond Wellness Centre is dedicated to helping you reach your health potential; guiding you to a lifetime of freedom, good living and a better quality of life. Take advantage of your remaining Private Health benefits for 2018 before they are gone. Call 03 8802 1519 or 03 9378 9479 to make your next appointment now. Holiday office hours During the Holiday Season our clinic will have the following schedule: 2018 December 23rd – 26th Closed 2018 December 27th – 29th OPEN 2018 December 30th, – 2019 January 2nd Closed We will reopen on Thursday January 3rd and resume regular office...
by Almond Wellness Centre | Nov 1, 2018 | Acupuncture research, Women's health
Cancer. 2014 Dec 1;120(23):3744-51. doi: 10.1002/cncr.28917. Epub 2014 Jul 30. Electroacupuncture for fatigue, sleep, and psychological distress in breast cancer patients with aromatase inhibitor-related arthralgia: a randomized trial. Mao JJ1, Farrar JT, Bruner D, Zee J, Bowman M, Seluzicki C, DeMichele A, Xie SX. Author information Abstract BACKGROUND: Although fatigue, sleep disturbance, depression, and anxiety are associated with pain in breast cancer patients, it is unknown whether acupuncture can decrease these comorbid symptoms in cancer patients with pain. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of electroacupuncture (EA) on fatigue, sleep, and psychological distress in breast cancer survivors who experience joint pain related to aromatase inhibitors (AIs). METHODS: The authors performed a randomized controlled trial of an 8-week course of EA compared with a waitlist control (WLC) group and a sham acupuncture (SA) group in postmenopausal women with breast cancer who self-reported joint pain attributable to AIs. Fatigue, sleep disturbance, anxiety, and depression were measured using the Brief Fatigue Inventory (BFI), the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). The effects of EA and SA versus WLC on these outcomes were evaluated using mixed-effects models. RESULTS: Of the 67 randomly assigned patients, baseline pain interference was associated with fatigue (Pearson correlation coefficient [r]=0.75; P < .001), sleep disturbance (r=0.38; P=.0026), and depression (r=0.58; P < .001). Compared with the WLC condition, EA produced significant improvements in fatigue (P=.0095), anxiety (P=.044), and depression (P=.015) and a nonsignificant improvement in sleep disturbance (P=.058) during the 12-week intervention and follow-up period. In contrast, SA did not produce significant reductions in fatigue or anxiety symptoms but did produce a significant improvement in...
by Almond Wellness Centre | Nov 1, 2018 | Acupuncture ivf research, Acupuncture research, Fertility, Women's health
Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab. 2013 May 1;304(9):E934-43. doi: 10.1152/ajpendo.00039.2013. Epub 2013 Mar 12. Acupuncture for ovulation induction in polycystic ovary syndrome: a randomized controlled trial. Johansson J1, Redman L, Veldhuis PP, Sazonova A, Labrie F, Holm G, Johannsson G, Stener-Victorin E. Abstract Acupuncture has been demonstrated to improve menstrual frequency and to decrease circulating testosterone in women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). Our aim was to investigate whether acupuncture affects ovulation frequency and to understand the underlying mechanisms of any such effect by analyzing LH and sex steroid secretion in women with PCOS. This prospective, randomized, controlled clinical trial was conducted between June 2009 and September 2010. Thirty-two women with PCOS were randomized to receive either acupuncture with manual and low-frequency electrical stimulation or to meetings with a physical therapist twice a week for 10-13 wk. Main outcome measures were changes in LH secretion patterns from baseline to after 10-13 wk of treatment and ovulation frequency during the treatment period. Secondary outcomes were changes in the secretion of sex steroids, anti-Müllerian hormone, inhibin B, and serum cortisol. Ovulation frequency during treatment was higher in the acupuncture group than in the control group. After 10-13 wk of intervention, circulating levels of estrone, estrone sulfate, estradiol, dehydroepiandrosterone, dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate, androstenedione, testosterone, free testosterone, dihydrotestosterone, androsterone glucuronide, androstane-3α,17β-diol-3-glucuronide, and androstane-3α,17β-diol-17-glucuronide decreased within the acupuncture group and were significantly lower than in the control group for all of these except androstenedione. We conclude that repeated acupuncture treatments resulted in higher ovulation frequency in lean/overweight women with PCOS and were more effective than just meeting with the therapist. Ovarian and adrenal sex steroid serum levels were reduced with no effect on...
by Almond Wellness Centre | Oct 26, 2018 | Acupuncture research, Uncategorized
Am J Chin Med. 2018 Oct 9:1-33. doi: 10.1142/S0192415X18500738. [Epub ahead of print] The Most Commonly Treated Acupuncture Indications in the United States: A Cross-Sectional Study. Wang H1,2, Yang G3, Wang S4,2, Zheng X5,2, Zhang W6, Li Y2. Author information Abstract Acupuncture has been a popular alternative medicine in the United States for several decades. Its therapeutic effects on pain have been validated by both basic and clinical researches, and it is currently emerging as a unique non-pharmaceutical choice for pain against opioid crisis. However, the full spectrum of acupuncture indications remains unexplored. In this study, we conducted a cross-sectional survey among 419 acupuncturists nation-wide to investigate the top 10 and top 99 acupuncture indications in private clinics in the United States. We found the top 10 indications to be: lower back pain, depression, anxiety, headache, arthritis, allergies, general pain, female infertility, insomnia, neck pain and frozen shoulder. Among the top 99 indications, pain represents the largest category; and mental health management, especially for mood disorders, is in greatest demand. The following popular groups are: immune system dysfunctions, gastrointestinal diseases, gynecology and neurology. In addition, specialty index, commonality index, and the potential to become medical specialties were estimated for each indication. Demographic analysis suggests that China trained acupuncturists tend to have broader indication spectrums, but the top conditions treated are primarily decided by local needs. Also, gender, resident states, age and clinical experience all affect indication distributions. Our data for the first time outlines the profile of acupuncture treatable conditions in the US and is valuable for strategic planning in acupuncture training, healthcare administration and public education. KEYWORDS: Chinese Medicine; Common Acupuncture Indication; Gyneocology; Immune...
by Almond Wellness Centre | Oct 24, 2018 | Acupuncture ivf research, Acupuncture research, Fertility, IVF acupuncture, Men's health, Women's health
Summary of Acupuncture Studies related to Reproductive Medicine– Download as PDF Compiled from Journals, Internet, and Website resources as a tool to aid ABORM members understand the depth and breadth of Western Style research related to our fields. Worked completed by: Diane K. Cridennda, L.Ac., FABORM, Member Board of Directors Founder/Owner: East Winds Acupuncture, web: www.EastWindsAcupuncture.com Also Phone: 719-520-5056 FOR SUGGESTIONS AND FURTHER ADDITIONS… EMAIL ME AT...
