No Laughing Matter, Chronic Pain and Depression Can Have Many Negative Effects on Patients, Acupunct

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This article was originally taken from My Professional Member Association's Facebook page, (The Australian Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine Association Ltd,) (AACMA). I thought it was worth sharing it all with you. As the saying goes "a problem shared is a problem halved". This is a very important saying which should be applied when discussing Chronic Pain and Depression.

Chronic Pain and Depression are conditions which effect many people. These conditions may be short term and/or long term and/or chronic and/or acute. The article below suggests how Acupuncture may help with Chronic Pain and Depression.

However, to save everyone time and energy (qi) I have picked out the main points from the article, which may be worth a second thought. Please read the article below and feel free to share it with friends, either as a passing comment or on social media :)

Summary of Article Below on Chronic Pain and Depression and How Acupuncture may Help:

"Health specialists at the University of York, have found acupuncture treatment can boost the effectiveness of standard medical care, lessening the severity of chronic pain and depression "

Professor of Acupuncture Research, Hugh MacPherson, worked with a team of Scientists from the United Kindom and United States of America, compiling the results of 29 high quality clinical trials focused on patients treated with acupuncture and standard medical care.

In the majority of these trials, patients with chronic pain treated with acupuncture and standard medical care were tested against those who were provided with standard medical care alone, such as anti-inflammatory drugs and physiotherapy. The trials involved approximately 18,000 patients diagnosed with chronic pain of the neck, lower back, head, and knee.

Now...the Information.....The Results!

1) Professor MacPherson added: "Our new data provides a significant step forward in treating Chronic Pain and managing Depression, because patients and health professionals can now make decisions on acupuncture with more confidence. Also:

More Cost Effective,
Reduces pain levels
Improves mood levels
This may reduce over reliance on drugs
May reduce unwanted side effects via acupuncture, a natural alternative to medication.

2) In a report published in the 'National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Journals Library', researchers showed that there is significant evidence to demonstrate that acupuncture provides more than a placebo effect.

3)The study also concluded that acupuncture is cost effective, with the value for money being rated as less than the threshold of £20,000 cost per quality of life year - a metric for cost-effectiveness used by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE).

4) In a study of 755 patients with depression in the North of England, researchers showed that both acupuncture and counselling significantly reduced the severity of depressions and that these benefits were largely sustained for up to 12 months after treatment.

5) Professor MacPherson stated "In the largest study of its kind, we have now provided a solid evidence base to show that not only can acupuncture and counselling bring patients out of an episode of depression, but it can keep the condition at bay for up to a year on average."

6) The report shows that the addition of acupuncture compared to standard medical care alone significantly reduced:

the number of headaches and migraine attacks
reduced the severity of neck and lower back pain.
the pain and disability of osteoarthritis, which led to patients being less reliant on anti inflammatory tablets to control pain.

There, that wasn't so bad. I hope you enjoyed reading this article. Another point for Acupuncture :)

Kind Regards,

Dr Rebecca Dabscheck (Chinese Medicine Practitioner)