Acupuncture is helpful in alleviating menstrual cramps, which affects up to half of all young women.
Acupuncture is helpful in alleviating menstrual cramps, which affects up to half of all young women.
There is convincing evidence on the effectiveness of using acupuncture to treat pain as it stimulates the production of endorphins and serotonin in the central nervous system. Endorphins are compounds produced naturally by the human body during exercise and excitement and they result in a feeling of well-being.
The causes for many cases of menstrual cramps are unknown and for some women, the pain - accompanied by bloating, nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, dizziness and headache - can become more severe or may last longer as they grow older. Common treatments include exercise, painkillers and applying heat to the lower abdomen. Acupuncture has been used for symptomatic treatment of pain in China for at least 2,600 years.
Researchers reviewed 27 randomised controlled trials from English, Korean, Japanese and Chinese databases that involved nearly 3,000 women with dysmenorrhoea, and found that acupuncture was more effective than drugs or herbal medicines. However, the researchers noted flaws in the methodology of some studies and called for more clinical trials to be done. In a growing number of places, doctors trained in western medicine are turning to acupuncture for their patients as a complementary treatment to help relieve pain.
There is convincing evidence on the effectiveness of using acupuncture to treat pain as it stimulates the production of endorphins and serotonin in the central nervous system. Endorphins are compounds produced naturally by the human body during exercise and excitement and they result in a feeling of well-being.
The causes for many cases of menstrual cramps are unknown and for some women, the pain - accompanied by bloating, nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, dizziness and headache - can become more severe or may last longer as they grow older. Common treatments include exercise, painkillers and applying heat to the lower abdomen. Acupuncture has been used for symptomatic treatment of pain in China for at least 2,600 years.
Researchers reviewed 27 randomised controlled trials from English, Korean, Japanese and Chinese databases that involved nearly 3,000 women with dysmenorrhoea, and found that acupuncture was more effective than drugs or herbal medicines. However, the researchers noted flaws in the methodology of some studies and called for more clinical trials to be done. In a growing number of places, doctors trained in western medicine are turning to acupuncture for their patients as a complementary treatment to help relieve pain.
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