Complementary medical acupuncture

BACKGROUND: Neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPSs) of Parkinson's disease (PD) have received increasing attention, but effective treatment options remain limited. Acupuncture may have clinical benefits for NPSs in PD patients, but high-quality evidence supporting this possibility still needs to be discovered. Therefore, we conducted a meta-analysis to evaluate the effect of acupuncture treatment on NPSs in PD patients. METHODS: Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of acupuncture treatment for PD retrieved from the following electronic databases: PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, and Scopus, were used to evaluate NPSs of PD patients...

INTRODUCTION: The prevalence of dry eye disease (DED) has been consistently increasing yearly. However, the radical therapy has not yet been established. This study is to confirm the superiority of acupuncture over artificial tear drops (ATDs) in patients with DED. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: This study is a single-centre, investigator-initiated, assessor-blinded, parallel randomised controlled trial. 30 participants will be enrolled. Over a period of 4 weeks, the experimental group would receive two kinds of acupuncture three times a week...

BACKGROUND: : Obesity is a global health challenge. Traditional approaches, including increased physical activity, dietary interventions, and medical therapy, often yield limited success, propelling some patients toward costly and invasive procedures like bariatric surgery. Laser acupuncture has been suggested as a complementary therapeutic approach to overcome this challenge. The present study investigated the effectiveness of laser acupuncture treatment in weight loss and abdominal subcutaneous fat reduction...

Objective: The Non-Opioid Pain Alleviation Information Network (NOPAINMN) project was designed to identify, consolidate, and map evidence-based non-opioid and non-pharmacological pain management complementary and integrative health (CIH) modalities for chronic pain management across Minnesota into a searchable and informational website (www.nopainmn.org). Methods: The Academic Consortium for Integrative Medicine & Health's Pain Task Force White Paper identifying evidence-based research of non-pharmacological pain practice (NPPC) was reviewed and referenced...

OBJECTIVE: To understand research advances and frontiers of acupuncture regulation on the autonomic nervous system (ANS) over the past decade through a bibliometric analysis. METHODS: Publications related to acupuncture regulation on the ANS were retrieved from the Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC) database. CiteSpace software was used to analyze the datasets and generate knowledge maps. RESULTS: A total of 445 relevant publications published between 2013 and 2022 were included in this bibliometric analysis...

BACKGROUND: Patients with interstitial cystitis/bladder pain syndrome (IC/BPS) commonly face a decline in their quality of life and social functioning upon discontinuation of conventional therapy, which is known for its limited efficacy and the risk of relapse. While the existing evidence is somewhat restricted, acupuncture is being explored as a potential and effective treatment option for IC/BPS. CASE PRESENTATION: A 67-year-old woman, diagnosed with refractory IC/BPS, underwent treatment at the Medical Acupuncture Department of Sanming Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine Hospital...

Integrative medicine (IM) use is widespread among individuals living with serious illness. There is a natural alignment between the fields of IM and palliative care (PC) rooted in their shared core values. Integrative palliative care (IPC) is an emerging focus within the field of PC that aims to broaden the healing toolkit available to patients with serious illness by combining standard-of-care biomedical treatments with evidence-informed integrative and complementary medicine practices with the goal of enhancing quality of life at every stage of a person's health journey...

OBJECTIVE: The relationship between acupoint sensitization and acupoint specificity is a topic of significant interest in acupuncture research. Numerous clinical studies have demonstrated that needling pain sensitive acupoints yields superior therapeutic outcomes compared to traditional acupoints, particularly in the context of pain disorders. However, there is a lack of bibliometric analysis in acupuncture area. Therefore, the objective of this study is to offer a comprehensive overview of the knowledge structure and research hotspots pertaining to acupoint sensitization and acupoint specificity...

BACKGROUND: Electroacupuncture (EA) has a positive effect on neurological repair and functional recovery following spinal cord disease. However, evidence of its effectiveness in acute transverse myelitis (ATM) cases is limited. PATIENT PRESENTATION: A 48-year-old woman experienced headache and fever for 5 days, followed by a sudden onset of back pain, lower limb paralysis, and urinary and bowel dysfunction. The patient received intravenous medications. However, she did not experience improvement in clinical symptoms...

OBJECTIVE: Acupuncture, a widely employed traditional therapeutic modality known for its efficacy in pain alleviation and diverse condition management, may inadvertently result in mechanical nerve injury due to its invasive nature. This research aimed to ascertain the incidence of nerve injuries post-acupuncture, identify associated risk factors, and map the distribution of nerve injury sites. METHODS: A case-control study nested in the National Health Insurance Research Database (NHIRD) 2000-2018 two million cohort was conducted...

BACKGROUND: In intensive care units, mechanical ventilation is an important therapy to help patients with dyspnea. However, long-term ventilator dependence would consume huge medical resources and increase the risk of morbidity and mortality. The aim of the study was to examine the efficacy of the acupuncture combined with western medical care on ventilator parameters in ventilator-dependent patients. METHODS: In this clinical trial, 80 ventilator-dependent patients aged 20 to 80 years old were randomly assigned to acupuncture group and control group in the respiratory care center (RCC) of Changhua Christian Hospital...

OBJECTIVE: We identified the potential role of electroacupuncture (EA) as an alternative therapy to traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in a rare case of postoperative gastroparesis after gastric schwannoma (GS). CLINICAL PRESENTATION: A 31-year-old woman presented with impaired gastric emptying after gastrectomy for GS and was diagnosed with postoperative gastroparesis syndrome (PGS). The symptoms were slightly relieved after routine placement of the jejunal tube; however, symptoms such as dietary intolerance and impaired gastric emptying persisted...

Phantom limb pain (PLP) is a distressing consequence commonly encountered by individuals who have undergone amputations. The efficacy of treatment options for PLP is limited. In this study, we present a case of a 64-year-old male who suffered from PLP for a duration of 10 years following an above-the-knee amputation. Despite unsuccessful attempts with painkillers and neurotrophic drugs over the course of a decade, the patient sought relief through Fu's Subcutaneous Needling (FSN), an innovative acupuncture therapy that specifically targets the subcutaneous tissue for pain management...

Incorporating complementary therapy into nursing care is common in clinical practice. Complementary therapy is a non-pharmacological approach used to help address symptoms that cannot be alleviated entirely by medication. These complementary therapies often serve specific purposes, and nurses are the ideal candidates to administer them due to their patient care expertise. However, before applying any complementary therapy, it is essential to understand the potential medical safety, ethical, and legal considerations involved in the therapeutic process...

BACKGROUND: With rising interest in complementary approaches to symptom management, awareness of real-world practice patterns in the incorporation of integrative oncology (IO) into cancer care is limited. Therefore, we examined the reasons for referral, symptom burdens, and clinical outcomes for cancer patients who underwent initial IO consultations. METHODS: The records of adult patients with cancer who underwent initial outpatient IO consultations at our cancer center for a representative 10-day period at the start of each month for 12 months starting January 1, 2017, were reviewed retrospectively...

OBJECTIVE: Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) can achieve similar effects to Western medicine in increasing bone mineral density, improving the destruction of bone micro-structure, inhibiting bone resorption, etc. However, there exist great differences between TCM and Western medicine in terms of theoretical basis and treatment methods. Therefore, to gain insights into their differences in treating osteoporosis (OP), we compared the disease name, etiology, pathogenesis, and clinical effectiveness to explore the potential benefits of combining the two approaches...

Poland has a unique history of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) dating back to the 17th century when Polish missionary Michael (Michał) Boym was a pioneer in the field. In the 20th century, his successor, Professor Zbigniew Garnuszewski, reintroduced acupuncture to medical practice in Poland. However, other methods of TCM and its holistic approach to patient care have not found their place in modern medicine in Poland. At present, the legal status of TCM in Poland remains unregulated, with TCM included in the broad spectrum of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) practices...

UNLABELLED: The therapeutic challenge in peripheral arterial occlusive disease (PAD) is often to increase walking distance, improve pain or heal a wound when PAD is symptomatic. Walking rehabilitation or surgical revascularization techniques are limited. Others strategies as alternatives and/or complementary treatments are needed. Among alternative options, Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulations (TENS) could be of interest, both for improved walking distance or pain reduction. The Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation (TENS) is a non-pharmacological, mini-invasive technique involving transcutaneous electrical stimulation...

This study reports on 54 homeless and 53 stably housed veterans who received battlefield acupuncture (BFA) between September 2018 and October 2022. Linear mixed-effects regressions were used to examine change in overall pain score and how pain impacted four areas: (1) activity, (2) sleep, (3) mood, and (4) stress over the course of 8 weeks from the baseline visit at one BFA clinic. Results indicated significant reductions in the impact of pain on activity, sleep, and stress among both homeless and housed veterans...

INTRODUCTION: The COVID-19 pandemic persisted for over 3 years since its onset in December 2019, posing an ongoing global threat to human health. In the absence of specific antiviral medications for COVID-19, vaccination has emerged as a popular preventive measure adopted by the general public. However, an undesirable consequence of COVID-19 vaccination has been the frequent incidence of urticaria, a type of adverse skin manifestations. Despite the prevalence of this issue, there is currently a lack of clinical evidence exploring the potential utility of acupuncture as a therapeutic approach to managing urticaria arising after COVID-19 vaccination...