acupuncture

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a chronic gastrointestinal condition characterized by altered bowel habits and abdominal pain and discomfort. It is a common, costly, and difficult to treat disorder that also impairs health-related quality of life and work productivity. Some pharmacological (i.e. drug) therapies for treating IBS have modest benefits ...

Antipsychotic drugs have been used to treat schizophrenia since the early 1950s. While effective for some, antipsychotics can still leave many of those treated with disabling adverse effects, and safer, more effective health care interventions are being researched to try and redress this problem. Acupuncture has been used in China to treat mental health ...

Depression is widely experienced in our communities. In clinical depression, people report a lack of interest in life and activities which they otherwise normally enjoy. This can be accompanied by other symptoms including weight loss, over-eating, feelings of uselessness, sleep disturbance, self neglect and social withdrawal, insomnia or hypersomnia ...

Although conventional non-pharmacological and pharmacological treatments for insomnia are effective in many people, alternative therapies such as acupuncture are widely practised. This review was conducted to examine the efficacy and safety of acupuncture in treating insomnia. Thirty-three randomised controlled trials were eligible for inclusion in ...

Patients with epilepsy are currently treated with antiepileptic drugs, but a significant number of people continue to have seizures and many experience adverse effects to the drugs. As a result there is increasing interest in alternative therapies and acupuncture is one of those. Sixteen randomised controlled trials were included in the current systematic ...

There is no evidence from randomized controlled trials to determine whether acupuncture provides any effect when treating people with vascular dementia. Acupuncture is used to treat vascular dementia, but because no randomized controlled trials of acupuncture versus placebo were found its efficacy and safety could not be analysed in this review. There ...

The data from this meta-analysis suggests that acupuncture does increase the live birth rate with in vitro fertilisation (IVF) treatment when performed around the time of embryo transfer. However, this could be attributed to placebo effect and the small number of trials included in the review. Larger studies are necessary to confirm the results. Acupuncture ...

Dysmenorrhoea, known as period pain, is commonly experienced by younger women. Symptoms may include cramping pain in the lower abdomen that may radiate to the lower back or anterior thigh, nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, headache, fatigue, anxiety, and dizziness. The review found some evidence for the use of acupuncture in managing period pain. However, ...

Glaucoma is a leading cause of blindness worldwide. Although there are many existing treatments, including the use of eye drops, laser treatment, and a variety of surgical procedures, some patients may seek complementary or alternative medicine such as acupuncture to supplement their regular treatment. This review aimed to evaluate available evidence ...

Up to 70% of patients with cancer-related pain do not receive adequate pain relief and this reduces their quality of life. Acupuncture may have a role to play in relieving cancer-related pain. This review evaluated evidence for the effectiveness of acupuncture in reducing pain associated with cancer or its treatment, or both. We found three studies ...