Osteoarthritis is a degenerative disease affecting the joints, including fingers and toes, and is usually caused by the breakdown of protective cartilage. Often, the disease causes joint pain and a diminished range of movement and worsens with progressing age. Acupuncture, a healing art based in Traditional Chinese Medicine may relieve osteoarthritis. Consult with your doctor about possible treatments for your situation.
Acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine
Acupuncture addresses disease very differently than western treatments. Like all TCM healing methods, acupuncture is based on an energetic understanding of the living body. Using thin needles, an acupuncturist restores the harmonious and balanced flow of energy, known as "qi," by triggering particular points along energetic pathways. The pathways, called meridiens, correspond to specific organs and specific diseases or imbalances. Whereas western medicine might identify arthritis in terms of a diseased or degenerated tissue, acupuncture views the disease as a manifestation of imbalance, observable in terms of excess or deficiency, heat or cold and other pairs of opposing qualities.
Acupuncture and Osteoarthritis
Based on TCM, arthritis is caused by the blockage of qi's cyclical flow associated with wind, cold, damp or damp-heat. The precise cause of osteoarthritis varies from one individual to the next, according to each person's particular health profile and patterns of qi blockage. As a result, the acupuncture points used to clear up osteoarthritis vary widely. Even if your osteoarthritis symptoms manifest on your fingers, your acupuncturist may apply needles to completely different parts of your body, including the arms, legs and feet.
Scientific Trials
Acupuncture's effects on arthritis have received a moderate degree of attention from the scientific community. A 2004 trial published in the "Annals of Internal Medicine" compared acupuncture treatment with a "sham" acupuncture treatment. The sham element was designed to rule out any placebo effect. Subjects who received true acupuncture showed significantly better recovery than the sham group after 26 weeks of treatment. The true acupuncture also provided significant pain relief. Research carried out at the University Medical Center Berlin and published in "Arthritis & Rheumatism," in 2006, also demonstrated considerable improvement among patients with the chronic pain associated with arthritis. After six months, subjects who receive acupuncture displayed a decrease in pain symptoms and improved quality of life.
Additional Considerations
Despite its dramatically different framework from western medicine, acupuncture is regularly used as a complementary treatment in the West. Acupuncture has a low incidence of negative side effects or interactions with other treatments, making it convenient to combine with other approaches. Other means of allaying osteoarthritis symptoms include dietary and lifestyle changes and Chinese herbalism. Whenever combining various treatments, keep all of your doctors and practitioners informed of all the medicines and therapies you receive.
References
- New Zealand Ministry of Health Complementary and Alternative Medicine: Acupuncture for Osteoarthritis
- National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine: Acupuncture: An Introduction
- "AcuFinder.com;" Acupuncture for Arthritis; Diane Joswick
- "Annals of Internal Medicine;" Effectiveness of Acupuncture as Adjunctive Therapy in Osteoarthritis of the Knee; B.M. Berman, et al.; December 2004
- "Science Daily;" Osteoarthritis Patients Treated With Acupuncture Show Improvement; October 2006
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