Literature review about the effects of acupuncture

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Literature review

Meron kassahun

Southwest Minnesota state university

Literature Review

Acupuncture in the recent times has been considered as an effective treatment method for different ailments (Zhang et al., 2020). Acupuncture is an alternative medicine with its concepts and practice being a key component of the Chinese traditional medicine where needles are inserted into the body to relieve pressure. According to MacPherson et al. (2017), acupuncture is increasingly being considered as a treatment option for chronic pain. In their research, MacPherson et al. used an experimental design with 17922 patients in which they aimed at assessing the time duration through which the effect of acupuncture is in force for chronic pain patients. MacPherson et al. concludes that the treatment effects persist long enough after the treatment and does not decrease significantly for 12 months. Another study by Manheimer et al. (2018) aimed at assessing the effect of acupuncture as a treatment method for hip osteoarthritis. In the study, Manheimer et al. found out that acupuncture was less effective and beneficial for patients with hip osteoarthritis. However, the study found out that when acupuncture was used as an additional treatment for a patients receiving care from a primary physician care had benefits in reducing pain and improving the patient function (Manheimer et al.). In another correlated study on the use of acupuncture in the treatment of knee osteoarthritis by Sun et al. (2019) found out that in high doses acupuncture was effective in improving treatment outcomes for the patients. This was true especially in terms of reducing the pain and improving function as earlier found by Manheimer et al. research. An earlier study by Dimitrova et al. (2017) aimed at assessing the neuropathic effect of acupuncture and found out that acupuncture treatment was beneficial especially for HIV related neuropathy and the study also notes that acupuncture is effective in improving the nerve conduction for sensory and motor nerves. Wu et al. (2019) is another study that adds to the studies that have associated acupuncture with effective treatment. In the study, the authors aimed at assessing the impact of acupuncture in lateral epicondylitis treatment. Wu et al. notes that acupuncture in addition to fire needle therapy was effective in both the short term and the intermediate term of treatment. The study agreed with other observations by Manheimer et al. and Sun et al. that acupuncture helped in the management of pain and recovery from disability.

References

Dimitrova, A., Murchison, C., & Oken, B. (2017). Acupuncture for the treatment of peripheral neuropathy: a systematic review and meta-analysis. The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, 23(3), 164-179.

MacPherson, H., Vertosick, E. A., Foster, N. E., Lewith, G., Linde, K., Sherman, K. J., ... & Vickers, A. J. (2017). The persistence of the effects of acupuncture after a course of treatment: a meta-analysis of patients with chronic pain. Pain, 158(5), 784.

Manheimer, E., Cheng, K., Wieland, L. S., Shen, X., Lao, L., Guo, M., & Berman, B. M. (2018). Acupuncture for hip osteoarthritis. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, (5).

Sun, N., Tu, J. F., Lin, L. L., Li, Y. T., Yang, J. W., Shi, G. X., ... & Liu, C. Z. (2019). Correlation between acupuncture dose and effectiveness in the treatment of knee osteoarthritis: a systematic review. Acupuncture in Medicine, 37(5), 261-267.

Wu, S. Y., Lu, C. N., Chung, C. J., Kuo, C. E., Sheen, J. M., Hsueh, T. P., ... & Bi, K. W. (2019). Therapeutic effects of acupuncture plus fire needle versus acupuncture alone in lateral epicondylitis: A randomized case–control pilot study. Medicine, 98(22).

Zhang, N., Houle, T., Hindiyeh, N., & Aurora, S. K. (2020). Systematic review: acupuncture vs standard pharmacological therapy for migraine prevention. Headache: The Journal of Head and Face Pain, 60(2), 309-317.