Drs Martin & Sue Allbright

'Blending an ancient medical approach of mind and body with modern health'

Acupuncture Research

Structure

Density

Rigidity

Evidence

We would like to share with you our personal view, beliefs and approach about the research that is presented on these pages.

We both value the research of modern science and the many developments that have been discovered.

We also value the depth of wisdom and knowledge of traditional and classical five element acupuncture, which integrates the many aspects of body and mind.

We acknowledge the information gained from research, and we endevaour to use it where appropriate when meeting the needs of an individual who is suffering in health.

We hope later to share more information on the five elements of acupuncture.

Classical Acupuncture

This site was last updated on

20th August 2018

Copyright O 2018 Allrights reserved

Menopausal Hot Flushes

(2018) Management of Menopause Symptoms with Acupuncture: An Umbrella Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

‘Conclusions: Evidence from RCTs supports the use of acupuncture as an adjunctive or stand-alone treatment for reducing Vasomotor symptoms (VMSs) and improving health-related quality of life (HRQOL) outcomes, with the caveat that observed clinical benefit associated with acupuncture may be due, in part, or in whole to nonspecific effects. The safety of acupuncture in the treatment of VMSs has not been rigorously examined, but there is no clear signal for a significant potential for harm.’

Befus Deanna, Coeytaux Remy R., Et al., (2018) Management of Menopause Symptoms with Acupuncture: An Umbrella Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine. January 2018, ahead of print. https://doi.org/10.1089/acm.2016.0408

(2017) Traditional acupuncture for menopausal hot flashes (HF): A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

‘Results: Eleven RCTs were included in this systematic review, and nine were included in the meta-analysis. Traditional acupuncture (TA) showed statistically significant improvement relative to sham acupuncture (SA) in HF severity without heterogeneity. However, HF frequency and quality of life (QOL) did not differ between TA and SA. Nevertheless, TA showed significant improvement of HF frequency and severity, and QOL when compared to the control (wait list or no treatment).

Conclusion: The evidence suggested that TA can improve HF in menopausal women and could be a potential treatment for menopausal women.’

Eun-Young Nama, Ju-Yeon Park, et al. (2017) Traditional acupuncture for menopausal hot flashes: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. European Journal of Integrative Medicine. Volume 17, January 2018, Pages 119–128

(2017) Acupuncture May Improve Quality of Life in Menopausal Women: A Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials

‘Conclusion. Both the total score and the subgroup analysis strongly indicated that acupuncture can alleviate menopause-related symptoms. However, the evidence is not very strong. Thus further studies about the efficiency of acupuncture on menopausal symptoms based on well-designed trials are needed.’

Li W., Luo Y., et al, (2017) Acupuncture May Improve Quality of Life in Menopausal Women: A Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials Complement Med Res. https://doi.org/10.1159/000479630

See also (2017) Acupuncture Improves Peri-menopausal Insomnia: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

(2017) Trajectories of Response to Acupuncture for Menopausal Vasomotor Symptoms: The Acupuncture in Menopause Study.

‘CONCLUSIONS: Approximately half of the treated sample reported a decline in VMS frequency, but identifying clear predictors of clinical response to acupuncture treatment of menopausal vasomotor symptoms remains challenging.’

NE Avis et al. (2017) Trajectories of Response to Acupuncture for Menopausal Vasomotor Symptoms: The Acupuncture in Menopause Study. Pub.  Menopause 24 (2), 171-179. 2 2017.  

(2016) Acupuncture in Menopause (AIM) Study: A Pragmatic, Randomized Controlled Trial.

‘A total of 209 peri- or postmenopausal women ages 45 to 60 who were experiencing four or more vasomotor symptoms a day were randomly assigned to receive up to 20 acupuncture treatments within the first six months or to be in a “wait list” control group who received usual care for six months followed by a six-month course of acupuncture. At six months, women in the acupuncture group had a 37% decrease in the frequency of vasomotor symptoms compared with a 6% increase in the control group. At 12 months, the reduction from baseline was 29.5% in the acupuncture group, suggesting that the effect was largely maintained or six months after discontinuing treatment. Significant relief of vasomotor symptoms was evident at three weeks, and maximal clinical effects were seen after a median of eight treatments. Acupuncture also minimized the degree to which hot flashes interfered with daily activities, and had a positive effect on sleep, somatic and memory symptoms, and anxiety—and these benefits also persisted for six months after treatment.’

NE Avis et al. (2016) Acupuncture in Menopause (AIM) Study: A Pragmatic, Randomized Controlled Trial Pub.  Menopause 23 (6), 626-637. 6 2016.

(2016) Acupuncture for Menopausal Hot Flashes: A Randomized Trial

‘Conclusion: Chinese medicine acupuncture was not superior to noninsertive sham acupuncture for women with moderately severe menopausal Hot flashes.

Interventions: 10 treatments over 8 weeks of either standardized Chinese medicine needle acupuncture designed to treat kidney yin deficiency or noninsertive sham acupuncture.’

Our biggest criticism is that in Classical Five element acupuncture terms all women who have hot flashes do not all have Kidney yin deficiency! Failure to take this into account will mean that some women will not be getting the correct acupuncture treatment for their state of health plus placebo acupuncture is not placebo it has been shown to have active components. However ‘acupuncture and a placebo version of acupuncture with no needle insertion both reduced hot flash scores by about 40%, and the reduction was sustained for 6 months.’

Ee C. et al. (2016) Acupuncture for Menopausal Hot Flashes: A Randomized Trial. Ann Intern Med. 2016;164(3):146-154. DOI: 10.7326/M15-1380

(2014) Effects of acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine (Zhi Mu 14) on hot flushes and quality of life in postmenopausal women – Results from a four-armed randomized controlled pilot trial.

DISCUSSION . Our findings demonstrate a significant improvement of hot flush severity and frequency, as well as other menopausal symptoms in postmenopausal women after 12 weeks of TCM acupuncture treatment in comparison to sham acupuncture. Moreover we measured persisting long-term effects of TCM acupuncture on attenuation of overall, somato-vegetative and urogenital menopausal symptom severity at 12 weeks follow-up assessment. When comparing the effects of TCM acupuncture with verum Chinese herbal medicine(CHM), TCM Aacupuncture was found to be superior to CHM in terms of significantly stronger decreases in all MRS II subscale scores, and a trend towards a stronger reduction in hot flush severity from pre- to post-treatment. No significant effects were found for verum CHM compared to placebo CHM. Interventions in all study arms were well tolerated.

Unlike several sham-controlled acupuncture studies our data suggest that TCM Acupuncture is superior to sham acupuncture in reducing severity and frequency of menopause related symptoms. This preliminary finding is in line with results from two recently published randomized sham-controlled acupuncture trials emphasizing not only clinical effectiveness of TCM acupuncture by reducing hot flush frequency and overall menopausal symptom severity by 60 to 95% but also underlining its treatment specific efficacy.’

Nedeljkovic M. et al. (2014) Effects of acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine (Zhi Mu 14) on hot flushes and quality of life in postmenopausal women – Results from a four-armed randomized controlled pilot trial. Menopause. 2014;21(1):15-24.

(2013) Acupuncture for menopausal hot flushes (cochrane review)

‘Main results. Four studies compared acupuncture versus waiting list or no intervention. Traditional acupuncture was significantly more effective in reducing hot flush frequency from baseline  and was also significantly more effective in reducing hot flush severity The effect size was moderate in both cases. For quality of life measures, acupuncture was significantly less effective than Hormone therapy, but traditional acupuncture was significantly more effective than no intervention.’Dodin S, Blanchet C, Marc I, Ernst E, Wu T, Vaillancourt C, Paquette J, Maunsell E. (2013) Acupuncture for menopausal hot flushes. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2013, Issue 7. Art. No.: CD007410. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD007410.pub2.

(2011) The effect of acupuncture on postmenopausal symptoms and reproductive hormones: a sham controlled clinical trial

'Conclusion: Acupuncture was effective in reducing menopausal complaints when compared to sham acupuncture and can be considered as an alternative in the treatment of menopausal symptoms. ........ particularly in hot flushes, in women who have contraindications for HRT.'

'Oestrogen levels were significantly higher than in the sham group at the end of treatment. ..... Luteinising hormone (LH) levels were reduced and oestradiol levels were raised after treatment with acupuncture group, but we believe that those changes in hormone levels are not sufficiently large to explain the changes in symptoms.

Like several other studies, in this study the severity of hot-flushes was significantly decreased in the acupuncture group. However, in the acupuncture group, significant changes in hormone levels (especially in oestrogen) were not observed and this suggests that other factors are activated in the causing of hot flushes.

In this study, real acupuncture treatment was superior to sham acupuncture, in the relief of somatic, and psychological symptoms in post-menopausal women.

No adverse effects were observed in any of the patients.

The sample size was very small, ...... more reliable results can be obtained in the studies with larger sample size and longer follow up.'

XI36, X4, IV3, VIII3, CV24.5 (EX-HN3), CV3, two treatments a week, for ten treatments, 20 minutes TCM needling.

Didem Sunay, et al: (2011) The effect of acupuncture on postmenopausal symptoms and reproductive hormones: a sham controlled clinical trial

(Acupuncture in Medicine March 2011 Volume 29 Issue 1 pages 27-31)

(2011) Acupuncture-ameliorated menopausal symptoms: single-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized trial

‘Conclusion. Acupuncture treatment for relieving menopausal symptoms may be effective for decreasing hot flushes and the Kupperman Menopausal Index (KMI) score in postmenopausal women.’

Castelo Branco de Luca, A. Maggio da Fonseca, C. M. Carvalho Lopes, V. R. Bagnoli, J. M. Soares Jr & E. C. Baracat (2011)  Acupuncture-ameliorated menopausal symptoms: single-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized trial. Pub. Climacteric. Volume 14, 2011 - Issue 1A.

Every effort has been made to ensure that the information provided in this site is accurate. It is not the intention to mislead or misinform anyone.

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