Acupuncture & Arthritis

Osteoarthritis, the most common form of arthritis, is a degeneration of the bones and cartilages of the body joints such as knee, hip, shoulder, wrist and fingers. Pain and stiffness are the first warning symptoms.

This disease is one of the most frequent causes of physical disability among people over 50 year of ages. Acupuncture therapy has been effective to relieve pain and dysfunction caused by osteoarthritis. It works to improve nerve impulses around the joints so the body healing process can take place naturally.

A recent study involving 570 persons suffering from Osteoarthritis of the knee funded by National Institute of Health and published in Annals of Internal Medicine stated that those persons received a course of Acupuncture Therapy treatment in a 26 week period showed a significant 40% to 45% improvement in both pain and function over those who received no acupuncture therapy.

Fibromyalgia is a chronic pain syndrome of unknown origin. Acupuncture is a valuable method to increase pain control in these patients, and this effect does not seem to be due to a placebo effect. The treatment frequency is once a week for six weeks.

The acupuncture needles are left for 5-6 days; the patient removes them before the next appointment so that the body has 24-48 hours without stimulation. This avoids over stimulation of the points (which will render them inactive). When the patient begins to improve, the treatment frequency is reduced to every other week.

Usually within 8-10 treatments the patient is able to feel the improvement: pain is reduced; pain medication is diminished or discontinued; and there is improvement in the sleeping pattern and the body's energy.

Rheumatoid Arthritis is a chronic disease, mainly characterized by inflammation of the lining, or synovium, of the joints. It can lead to long-term joint damage, resulting in chronic pain, loss of function and disability. There is little doubt that acupuncture is an excellent therapy for people suffering with this condition as it works through the nervous system and energy channels in the body. Treatment has been shown to cause the brain to release endorphines and encephalins (natural pain killers), boost the immune system and calm the nervous system. In a study, 54 Rheumatoid Arthritis sufferers were given acupuncture (warm needling) with Zhuifengsu (chinese herb) The effective rate was found to be 100%. Controlled medical studies indicate that acupuncture is an appropriate therapy to adopt in holistic treatment of Arthritis.