Efficacy comparison between Chinese medicine's labor inducement methods and conventional methods customary in hospitals

August 24, 2015
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25796676
Harefuah 2015; 154 (1): 47-51, 67, 66
By Amir N
Abstract

INTRODUCTION: According to Chinese medicine, a correct balance of Qi (energy) and quantity of blood are vital in order to commence labor and continue the childbirth process. Correspondingly, there are two main reasons for a delayed or difficult childbirth: lack of Qi and blood or stagnation of Qi and blood.

AIM: Efficacy comparison of Chinese medicine's inducement methods to conventional methods and to the combination of both.

METHODS: Retrospective study with 80 women participating aged 22-40, who required labor inducement. The study group consisted of 50 women who received Chinese medicine's inducement treatment (Shiatsu and/or Acupuncture) prior to and/or during hospitalization. The control group consisted of 30 women who received customary hospital labor inducement methods. All the women received the questionnaires between one month to 10 years after childbirth.

RESULTS: Significant correlation was found between Chinese medicine inducement methods (Shiatsu/Acupuncture) and reduction of additional interventions throughout the birth process, when these were given during hospitalization (x2=47.29, d.f.=21, p=0.001). Correlation close to significant was found when inducement was given prior to hospitalization, especially when labor was induced by Shiatsu (x2=16.8, d.f.=9, p=0.052). An outstanding difference was found in shortening the birth process time (MS=0.45, F(6,72)=2.505, p=0.029) when combining Chinese medicine and conventional inducement methods (medicinal/mechanical).

CONCLUSIONS: Study results show that Chinese medicine inducement methods, whether or not combined with conventional methods, are an important and effective tool in their ability to reduce the extent of intervention throughout the birth process and also in reducing delivery completion interventions.

SUMMARY: Significant difference was found in shortening labor process when inducement treatment combined both Chinese medicine and conventional methods, in comparison to conventional inducement alone {medicinal/mechanical). This is an important result considering the high availability and low cost of Chinese treatment, and especially because it is a non-harmful method of inducement.
 

Acupuncture on GB34 activates the precentral gyrus and prefrontal cortex in Parkinson's disease

June 30, 2015
http://www.biomedcentral.com/1472-6882/14/336/abstract BMC Complement Altern Med. 2014 Sep 15;14(1):336. By Sujung Yeo

BACKGROUND: Acupuncture is increasingly used as an additional treatment for patients with Parkinson's disease (PD).

METHODS: In this functional magnetic resonance imaging study, brain activation in response to acupuncture in a group of 12 patients with PD was compared with a group of 12 healthy participants. Acupuncture was conducted on a specific acupoint, the right GB 34 (Y...

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Moxibustion And Acupuncture For The Treatment Of Crohn's Disease

May 26, 2015
Randomized controlled trial: Moxibustion and acupuncture for the treatment of Crohn's disease. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4138481/ World J Gastroenterol. 2014 Aug 21;20 (31):11000-11.
By Bao CH

AIM: To evaluate the clinical efficacy and safety of acupuncture and moxibustion for the treatment of active Crohn's disease (CD).
METHODS: Ninety-two patients were equally and randomly divided into the treatment group and received herb-partitioned moxibustion combined with acupuncture...
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Acupuncture for Barrett's Oesophagus

April 2, 2015
Jeanne, a 71-year-old housewife, started having reflux, swallowing difficulty and cough two years ago. As nothing could control the symptoms, she was sent for an endoscopy examination six months ago then was diagnosed with Barrett's oesophagus. This condition refers to an abnormal change in the cells of the lower portion of the oesophagus. It is characterized by the replacement of the normal stratified squamous epithelium lining of the oesophagus by simple columnar epithelium with goblet cell...

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Acupuncture for Hemorrhoid

February 27, 2015
Sarah has had hemorrhoid for 10 years. Her symptoms were not too bad until her pregnancy 17 months ago. Since then she has been suffering from non-stop bleeding, pain and itchiness, especially at night. She has been to see the doctor and tried different ointments but couldn't get relief. She also had 6 sessions of acupuncture treatment from someone and that didn't help either. One day she came to ask me if Chinese herbal medicine could help. I explained to her that although Chinese herbs coul...
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York study maps the effects of acupuncture on the brain

January 5, 2015
The study, by researchers at the University of York and the Hull York Medical School published in Brain Research, indicates that acupuncture has a significant effect on specific neural structures.
http://www.york.ac.uk/news-and-events/news/2010/research/acupuncture/

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