A new analysis published in the open-access research journal BMJ Open suggests acupuncture is an effective method for reducing pregnancy-related back and pelvic pain and other variables. Findings follow a PubMed, EMBASE databases, Web of Science and Cochrane Library search of randomized, controlled trials.
The pooled data analysis relied on 10 previously conducted RCTs published between 2000 and 2020, and involving just over 1,000 women experiencing lower back and/or pelvic pain at 17-30 weeks gestation, but otherwise healthy. Average age of study participants was age 35 or younger in most cases.
In seven of the 10 trials, women were treated with body acupuncture; in the three other trials, auricular acupuncture was used. (Seven studies used "forbidden points" that are often contraindicated during pregnancy.)
In all but one study, acupuncture significantly relieved pain. In addition, four studies that evaluated physical function showed significant improvement with acupuncture, while quality of life improved significantly in five studies that assessed this variable. Analysis also suggested that "there was a significant difference in overall effects when acupuncture was compared with other interventions or no intervention."
The review authors conclude: "Acupuncture significantly improved pain, functional status and quality of life in women with LBPP during the pregnancy. Additionally, acupuncture had no observable severe adverse influences on the newborns. More large-scale and well-designed RCTs are still needed to further confirm these results."
Source: Yang J, et al. Acupuncture for low back and/or pelvic pain during pregnancy: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials. BMJ Open; 202212(12):e056878. Click here for full-text access.
Chronic pain afflicts over 20% of the adult population. Sadly, most MDs have essentially no education in treating pain, beyond offering a few toxic medications. Then they tend to steer people with pain away from those health practitioners who are trained. This puts the acupuncture community on the front lines for addressing this epidemic.
When the body is going through a stressful event, the sympathetic system is activated. This activation will help the body with a life-threatening situation. If this state is activated for prolonged periods of time, it starts to consume energy. These traumatic events that generate stressors in the autonomic nervous system (ANS) will eventually become internalized.
| Digital Exclusive
One of the things that makes acupuncture so difficult to measure is that the medicine actually does contain some esoteric aspects. There have been numerous studies that demonstrate the neurochemical reasoning behind why acupuncture points stimulate the autonomic nervous system to enact change However, not all the benefits of TCM can easily be measured by randomized, controlled trials. But does that make them fundamentally and definitively untrue?
| Digital Exclusive