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Acupuncture for dysmenorrhoea (period pain)
From a Chinese medicine point of view, pain results when there
is "Stagnation of Qi (energy) and/or Blood". Acupuncture
treatment aims to restore this flow. A visit to the GP will
be advised to screen for any medical conditions and then the
initial consultation will explore in detail the exact timing,
severity, character of the pain as well as any factors that
make it improve, such as heat or movement for example.
A recent systematic review of the research into this area was
published by the International Journal of Obstetrics & Gynaecology
in February 2010,
Reference: Cho, S-H. & Hwang, E-W. (2010). Acupuncture
for primary dysmenorrhoea: a systematic review. BJOG117:509–521.
Main results: Twenty-seven RCTs were systematically
reviewed. Only nine of the 27 trials clearly described their
methods of randomisation and none of the trials stated the methods
of allocation concealment. Compared with pharmacological treatment
or herbal medicine, acupuncture was associated with a significant
reduction in pain. Three studies reported reduced pain within
groups from baseline; however, two RCTs did not find a significant
difference between acupuncture and sham acupuncture.
Author’s conclusions: The review found promising evidence
in the form of RCTs for the use of acupuncture in the treatment
of primary dysmenorrhoea compared with pharmacological treatment
or herbal medicine. However, the results were limited by methodological
flaws. The evidence for the effectiveness of acupuncture for
the treatment of primary dysmenorrhoea is not convincing compared
with sham acupuncture. Further rigorous nonpenetrating placebo-controlled
RCTs are warranted.
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