Acupuncture for post-stroke depression: a systematic review and network meta-analysis

January 16, 2024

https://bmcpsychiatry.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12888-023-04749-1#article-info

Sixty-two studies, involving 5308 participants published from 2003 to 2022, were included. The results showed that compared with western medicine (WM) (defined as pharmacotherapy for PSD), acupuncture (AC) alone or with repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (RTMS), Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) alone or with WM, were superior for alleviating depression symptoms. Compared to Usual Care, AC alone or plus other therapies could significantly decrease scores on the Hamilton Depression Rating scale. According to result of SUCRA, AC plus RTMS had the highest probability of improving depressive symptoms with a probability of 49.43%.

 

Clinical efficacy and safety of acupuncture treatment of TIC disorder in children: A systematic review and meta-analysis of 22 randomized controlled trials - PubMed

March 1, 2023


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Short-term use of ibuprofen may increase chance of chronic pain, study suggests

May 13, 2022

Using drugs like ibuprofen and steroids to relieve short-term health problems could increase the chances of developing chronic pain, new research suggests.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2022/may/11/short-term-use-of-ibuprofen-may-increase-chance-of-chronic-pain-study-suggests


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New York Times: Considering Bone or Joint Surgery? You May Not Need It.

January 7, 2022
British researchers looked at studies of 10 common orthopedic operations, including surgeries of the knee, hip, shoulder, spine and wrist. They found good evidence of the superiority of surgery over other treatments for carpal tunnel syndrome and total knee replacement.  For six other common surgeries, randomized trials found little advantage over interventions like exercise, weight management, physical therapy and drug treatment. The researchers found no controlled trials that had compared h...
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Acupuncture for Constipation

May 13, 2021

22-year-old Ellen was visiting her boyfriend's family last year. During her stay she developed constipation, probably due to change of place and diet. She couldn't open her bowels for about 10 days and felt really uncomfortable. Her boyfriend's mum got worried and brought her to see me. I did electro-acupuncture in her tummy and cupping on her back. She felt relaxed afterwards. Two days later I got a phone call from her boyfriend's mum saying: "Ellen went to the toilet a few times the day aft...


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NICE Recommends Acupuncture for Chronic Primary pain

April 8, 2021
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has published support for the use of both traditional Chinese and Western acupuncture for chronic primary pain.  Chronic primary pain is defined by NICE as pain for which no underlying condition adequately accounts for the pain or its impact. 

In November 2016, NICE did not support acupuncture for the treatment of low back pain.  Their view was that there was no evidence that it was better than sham treatment. (https://www.nice.org.uk/news/...
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