Recent Complementary and Alternative Medicine Research (Oct/09/2009)

Our monthly research synopses contain select research articles from a variety of sources that are of interest to the public and practitioners of Complementary and Alternative Medicine. This month we discuss acupuncture for nasal congestion, electro-acupuncture for knee pain, toyohari meridian assessment agreement, effects of acupuncture on post-cesarean section pain, and the beneficial effects of acupuncture and acupressure on myofasical pain syndrome (MPS).

• Acupuncture For Nasal Congestion [1]

Acupuncture is used for a broad range of sinus issues such as allergies, polyps, congestion, recurrent infections, and more. This study, a double blind, placebo controlled study, looked at the effect of acupuncture on nasal congestion. The researchers found significant and measurable changes from acupuncture on sinus congestion with increasingly positive changes over time.

• Electro-Acupuncture For Knee Pain [2]

All types of pain appear to benefit from acupuncture. This sham controlled study looked at the effect of electro-acupuncture on knee pain. The 40 person study found that acupuncture provided significant pain reduction and outperformed sham acupuncture considerably.

• Consistency of Toyohari Meridian Therapy Diagnoses [3]

This was an interesting study looking at the level of consistency/agreement amongst practitioners of the Toyohari style of Japanese Acupuncture. While the lack of full agreement does not mean the treatment from each of the practitioners would, necessarily, be any less effective it is interesting to note the levels. The study found "level of agreement for pulse diagnosis was 57%, 61%, and 77% for pulse depth, speed, and strength, respectively; abdominal diagnosis, the level of agreement for involvement of the Lung, Kidney, Spleen, and Liver abdominal regions was 58%, 53%, 35%, and 10%; and the overall level of agreement on primary sho diagnosis was 48% and for secondary sho diagnosis, 44%".

• Effects of acupuncture on post-cesarean section pain [4]

While many acupuncturists, in the US at least, are not in a position to be treating immediately in a hospital setting this is a valid study showing the benefits of such interventions should they be properly incorporated in the future. This study looked at post-surgical pain treatment from a c-section (but could be applied in theory to many types of post-surgical pain). The study found significant reductions in the need for pain killers both in the length between requests and, perhaps more importantly, in the amount necessary for pain relief (30-35% less). Another interesting aspect of this study was there was no clear difference between the electro-acupuncture group and the acupuncture group.

• Acupuncture with Acupressure vs. Medications and Tuina for Myofascial Pain Syndrome [5]

This study compared acupuncture and pressure point therapy to a combination of medication and tuina (what would be akin in the west to physical therapy and medication). The study found that acupuncture combined with pressure point therapy led to significant improvement vs. the control group in terms of pain, range of motion, and reduction in muscle spasms.