What Is Acupuncture?

From the National Center for Complementary & Integrative Health

What Is Acupuncture?
Acupuncture is a technique in which practitioners stimulate specific points on the body—most often by inserting thin needles through the skin. It is one of the practices used in traditional Chinese medicine.

What the Science Says About the Effectiveness of Acupuncture
Results from a number of studies suggest that acupuncture may help ease types of pain that are often chronic such as low-back pain, neck pain, and osteoarthritis/knee pain. It also may help reduce the frequency of tension headaches and prevent migraine headaches. Therefore, acupuncture appears to be a reasonable option for people with chronic pain to consider.

The effects of acupuncture on the brain and body and how best to measure them are only beginning to be understood. Current evidence suggests that many factors—like expectation and belief—that are unrelated to acupuncture needling may play important roles in the beneficial effects of acupuncture on pain.

What the Science Says About the Effectiveness of Acupuncture for Low Back Pain

• A 2012 analysis of data on participants in acupuncture studies looked at back and neck pain together and found that actual acupuncture was more helpful than either no acupuncture or simulated acupuncture.
• A 2010 review by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality found that acupuncture relieved low-back pain immediately after treatment but not over longer periods of time.
• A 2008 systematic review of studies on acupuncture for low-back pain found strong evidence that combining acupuncture with usual care helps more than usual care alone. The same review also found strong evidence that there is no difference between the effects of actual and simulated acupuncture in people with low-back pain.
  

What the Science Says About the Effectiveness of Acupuncture for Neck Pain

• A 2014 Australian clinical study involving 282 men and women showed that needle and laser acupuncture were modestly better at relieving knee pain from osteoarthritis than no treatment, but not better than simulated (sham) laser acupuncture. Participants received 8 to 12 actual and simulated acupuncture treatments over 12 weeks. These results are generally consistent with previous studies, which showed that acupuncture is consistently better than no treatment but not necessarily better than simulated acupuncture at relieving osteoarthritis pain.
• A 2009 analysis found that actual acupuncture was more helpful for neck pain than simulated acupuncture, but the analysis was based on a small amount of evidence (only three studies with small study populations).
• A large German study with more than 14,000 participants evaluated adding acupuncture to usual care for neck pain. The researchers found that participants reported greater pain relief than those who didn’t receive it; the researchers didn’t test actual acupuncture against simulated acupuncture.
  

Clinical practice guidelines issued by the American Pain Society and the American College of Physicians in 2007 recommend acupuncture as one of several nondrug approaches physicians should consider when patients with chronic low-back pain do not respond to self-care (practices that people can do by themselves, such as remaining active, applying heat, and taking pain-relieving medications).

We offer immediate appointments for acupuncture services as well as free consultations for new acupuncture patients. Call our front desk to schedule your appointment &/or consultation.

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About AHP
Since 1990, Advanced Health Professionals [AHP] has helped thousands of patients recover from pain and injury. AHP is Norwalk and Fairfield County’s leading provider of Physical Therapy, Chiropractic, Acupuncture and Massage services. We specialize in sports injuries, auto accident injuries, worker’s compensation, work injury, sport injury, auto accident injury, massage therapy, post-surgical, pre-surgical, back pain, hip pain, knee pain, joint pain, shoulder pain, elbow pain, wrist pain, rehab, neck pain, whiplash injury, rehabilitation - please call us for an immediate appointment. Our office is based in Norwalk and serves the surrounding areas of Fairfield County, Westchester County and other suburbs of New York City.