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Electro-acupuncture shows promise for knee arthritis

Research

Electro-acupuncture helps knee arthritis pain

A modern twist on traditional acupuncture may bring some pain relief to people with knee arthritis, at least in the short term, a small study suggests.

electro-acupuncture for knee arthritis

electro-acupuncture for knee arthritis

The study, published in the journal Pain, looked at the effects of electro-acupuncture among 40 adults with knee osteoarthritis — the common “wear-and-tear” form of arthritis in which the cartilage cushioning the joints breaks down.Electro-acupuncture is similar to traditional acupuncture, where fine needles are inserted into specific points in the skin. What’s different is that the practitioner fits the needles with clips that are attached to a small device that delivers a continuous electrical impulse to stimulate the acupuncture point.

Among the patients in the current study, those who had a daily electro-acupuncture session for 10 consecutive days reported greater improvement in their pain compared with patients who received a “sham” version of the therapy.

Patients in that latter group received acupuncture, but the needles were inserted at random points on the skin rather than traditional acupuncture sites. And while the needles were attached to the electrical device, it was not actually turned on.

The findings suggest that true electro-acupuncture may offer at least short-term pain relief to knee arthritis sufferers, according to the researchers, led by Dr. Sadia Ahsin of the Army Medical College Rawalpindi in Pakistan.

What does acupuncture do

Acupuncture has been used for more than 2,000 years in Chinese medicine to treat a wide variety of ailments. According to traditional medicine, specific acupuncture points on the skin are connected to internal pathways that conduct energy, or qi (“chee”), and stimulating these points with a fine needle promotes the healthy flow of qi.

Modern research has suggested that acupuncture may help ease pain by altering signals among nerve cells or affecting the release of various chemicals of the central nervous system, such as pain-killing endorphins.

In their study, Ahsin and colleagues found that electro-acupuncture appeared to raise patients’ blood levels of endorphins and lower their levels of the hormone cortisol, which tends to rise during physical or mental stress. So it’s possible that these changes explain the greater pain relief, according to the researchers.

Larger, longer-term studies are still needed to see whether electro-acupuncture can have lasting benefits — and to find out how often patients would need treatment to gain those benefits.

For now, Ahsin’s team writes, the current findings suggest that, for people who are interested in trying it, electro-acupuncture can be added to conventional treatment for knee arthritis.

Is it safe?

Acupuncture and electro-acupuncture are generally regarded as low-risk therapies. Among patients in this study, there were no major side effects apart from bruising at the needle site in three patients, the researchers note.

SOURCE:

Pain, online December 15, 2009.

Acupuncture Research

Research

Acupuncture has been employed as a health care modality for over 3,000 years.

Practitioners of this ancient medical practice have experienced clinical success with a variety of health issues. Today, acupuncture is receiving wide acceptance as a respected, valid and effective form of health care.

When most people think about acupuncture, they are familiar with its use for pain control. But acupuncture has a proven track record of treating and addressing a variety of endocrine, circulatory and systemic conditions.

Acupuncture and modern medicine, when used together, have the potential to support, strengthen and nurture the body towards health and well-being.

What is known about the physiological effects of acupuncture

Over the last few decades, research has been conducted seeking to explain how acupuncture works and what it can and cannot treat.

The 1997 National Institute of Health (NIH) Consensus on Acupuncture reports that “studies have demonstrated that acupuncture can cause multiple biological response, mediated mainly by sensory neurons, to many structures within the central nervous systems. This can lead to activation of pathways, affecting various physiological systems in the brain, as well as in the periphery.”

The NIH Consensus also suggests that acupuncture “may activate the hypothalamus and the pituitary gland, resulting in a broad spectrum of systemic effects. Alteration in the secretion of neurotransmitters and neurohomones, and changes in the regulation of blood flow, both centrally and peripherally, have been documented. There is also evidence of alterations in immune functions produced by acupuncture.

Below are current theories on the mechanism of acupuncture:

1. Neurotransmitter Theory – Acupuncture affects higher brain areas, stimulating the secretion of betaendorphines and enkephalins in the brain and spinal cord. The release of neurotransmitters influences the immune system and the antinociceptive system.

2. Autonomic Nervous System Theory – Acupuncture stimulates the release of norepinephine, acetylcholine and several types of oplaids, affecting changes in their turnover rate, nomalizing the autonomic nervous system, and reducing pain.

3. Gate Control Theory – Acupuncture activates nonnociceptive receptors that inhiit the transmission of nociceptive signals in the dorsal horn, “gating out” painful stimuli.

4. Vascular-intersititial Theory – Acupuncture manipulates the electrical system of the body by creating or enhancing closed-circuit transport in tissues. This facilitates healing by allowing the transfer of material and electrical energy between normal and injured tissues.

5. Blood Chemistry Theory – Acupuncture affects the blood concentrations of triglycerides, cholesterol, and phospholipids, suggesting that acupuncture can both raise and diminish peripheral blood components, thereby regulating the body toward homeostasis.

According to a study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, 51% of medical doctors understand the efficacy and value of acupuncture, and medical doctors refer patients to acupuncturists more than any other alternative care provider.

The NIH Consensus on Acupuncture further states that clinical experience, supported by research data, suggests acupuncture may be a reasonable option for a number of clinical conditions.

Evidence – research into acupuncture as a medical treatment

Research into acupuncture as a medical treatment has grown exponentially in the past 20 years, increasing at twice the rate of research into conventional biomedicine. Over this period, there have been over 13,000 studies conducted in 60 countries, including hundreds of meta-analyses summarising the results of thousands of human and animal studies.1 A wide-variety of clinical areas have been studied, including pain, cancer, pregnancy, stroke, mood disorders, sleep disorders and inflammation, to name a few.

More details please see:

Acupuncture: An Overview of Scientific Evidence By Mel Hopper Koppelman, DAc, MSc, MSc

The Acupuncture Evidence Project – A Comparative Literature Review 2017

Research found acupuncture for low back pain are more effective

Research

A German research found acupuncture for low back pain are more effective.

German doctors found that acupuncture treatment for low back pain is more effective (almost twice) than the conventional therapy, a combination of drugs, physiotherapy and exercises.

Dr. Michael Haake from the University of Regensburg, who presided over the clinic trial, said: “Acupuncture provide a effective way to treat low back pain, and has less effects.”

 

Acupuncture is more effective than Physical therapy

In the clinical trials, Dr. Haake and his colleagues recruited 1162 patients with chronic low back pain. These patient in average have 8 years of low back pain. These 1162 patients were divided into three groups and received 30 minutes treatment twice per week for a total five weeks. One group received acupuncture treatment; the second group received “Sham acupuncture” treatment; The last group received conventional routine treatment, a combination of drugs, physiotherapy and exercises.

6 months after treatment, a questionnaire has sent to patient who received the treatment. Of which nearly half of the patient who received acupuncture treatment (47.6%) claimed the treatment is effective, compare to the conventional therapy group, only 27.4% found the treatment helpful.

The result showed that low back pain improved after acupuncture treatment for at least 6 months. effectiveness of acupuncture was almost twice that of conventional therapy.

Researchers believe acupuncture may change the mechanism of brain receiving pain signals, or acupuncture may stimulate brain to release a natural analgesic substances leading to pain relief.

 

References:

Arch Intern Med. 2007; Vol. 167 Issue 17 pp: 1892 -1898′, ‘Acupuncture Back Pain Trial’