In a release of a recent clinical study’s results on the effectiveness of acupuncture for the relief of dysmenorrhea pain in the Complementary and Alternative Medicine, the positive effects of this millennia-old Chinese alternative therapy were verified. The positive reaction of patients suffering from menstrual pain who were administered with acupuncture treatment in Pem demonstrated the high level of efficacy of this treatment.
Marked by the development of painful menstrual cramps, dysmenorrhea is a condition that can be categorized either primary or secondary. Dysmenorrhea of the primary type cannot be attributed to any determined pelvic causation; secondary dysmenorrhea, on the other hand, can be determined by a specific pelvic pathology. Both types of dysmenorrhea have one common shared symptom and that is pain that usually is impervious to the effects of NSAID drugs in one out of every four cases.
The aforementioned clinical study involved the participation of patients who were suffering from moderate to severe form of dysmenorrhea who have had the condition for a minimum of one year from the beginning of the study and had no positive results from NSAID drugs.. All subjects were treated with acupuncture once a week for eight weeks. They all underwent a 30-minute session in which reed-thin acupuncture needles were stuck in pre-determined acupuncture points on the body.
Thirteen out of the fifteen patients who participated in the study exhibited significant positive results from acupuncture and reported a substantial decrease in pain related to their dysmenorrhea. Said subjects also reported a decrease in the use of NSAID medications following positive response to the alternative therapy. A considerable decrease in pain was reported by subjects having the primary type of dysmenorrhea. Seven out of 15 completely suspended their use of NSAIDs and instead solely relied on acupuncture. Six months later after they ended their use of NSAIDs, in follow-up treatment, the subjects remained free of symptoms.
The NIH (National Institute of Health) has officially recognized acupuncture as a mode of treatment that shows empirical pain-relieving qualities. The institute has endorsed this Eastern form of medicine for various medical problems, including dysmenorrhea. This alternative therapy has one major advantage and that it is virtually devoid of any negative reactions or events. Medical practitioners and professionals also deem it to be a non-invasive and very safe type of healing. Experts, in fact, believe that technique of inserting needles on strategic acupoints on the body help boost normal blood flow, especially in the parts of the body required for treatment.