Acupuncture 'better than drugs' for period pain.

Pulse, the UK’s leading medical weekly publication, has published news of a systematic review of studies using acupuncture to relieve period pain (primary dysmenorrhoea).

Pulse
Acupuncture ‘is better than drugs’ for period pain
19 Feb 10
By Lilian Anekwe

A systematic review of acupuncture for the treatment of primary dysmenorrhoea has concluded that there is ‘promising evidence’ for its use.

South Korean researchers evaluated 27 randomised controlled trials of 3,000 women who were treated with a variety of different forms of acupuncture. It concludes that - compared with pharmacological treatment or herbal medicine - acupuncture was associated with a significant reduction in pain.

Overall 12 trials concluded that acupuncture was more effective than pharmacological treatment, and three trials that used pain severity scales showed that traditional acupuncture was significantly better than pharmacological treatment.

One comparison between acupuncture and herbal medicine found a significant mean difference of 2.21 points on a symptom severity scale. But comparisons of acupuncture with sham acupuncture were less clear. While some trials reported an improvement in pain relief in women given acupuncture compared with sham acupuncture, one reported no significant difference in menstrual pain score.

Read the full article on the Pulse website.