In the Acupuncture world, there is one cold hard truth – which is much of the public is still on the fence on whether Eastern Medicine works.
With that said, as a practitioner I am commonly asked the same three words by new patients – Does Acupuncture work?
After performing thousands of treatments and going through an intensive four-year program, I can confidently answer back – Yes Acupuncture works!
Beyond opinions, there has been countless credible studies proving the efficacy of Acupuncture as a viable treatment option.
Acupuncture is no longer an argument of opinion but rather based off scientifically proven clinical data.
However, whether or not, you believe in Acupuncture, these two facts will absolutely impress you…
Acupuncture Outperforms Drugs for Sleep Disorders
In one single blinded, randomized placebo-controlled study, researchers compared Acupuncture with sham (fake) Acupuncture and Estazolam (benzodiazepine sleep medication).
After two months of research, they found that, “True Acupuncture produced significantly superior patient outcomes for insomnia patients including improvements in sleep quality and total sleep time. In addition, Acupuncture improved fatigue reduction, reduced sleepiness, increased concentration and reduced mood disturbances.”
Acupuncture Lowers High Blood Pressure
According, to one HealthCMI study, two control groups were tested. Both groups were taking antihypertensive medications. Only one of the groups received Acupuncture treatments every other day for a total of fifteen sessions. After the end of the study, researchers found that, “Combining Acupuncture with medication resulted in two beneficial medical outcomes. First, overall systolic and diastolic blood pressure reduced significantly. Secondly, patients noted less side-effects, as a result of taking pharmaceutical medications.
The outcome, the researchers concluded that “Acupuncture should be in the hypertension treatment guidelines and widely used for blood pressure regulation.”
Reference:
Cevik, C., and S. O. Işeri. “The effect of acupuncture on high blood pressure of patients using antihypertensive drugs.” Acupuncture & electro-therapeutics research 38, no. 1-2 (2012): 1-15.
Guo, Jing, Lin-Peng Wang, Cun-Zhi Liu, Jie Zhang, Gui-Ling Wang, Jing-Hong Yi, Jin-Lian Cheng, and R. Musil. “Efficacy of acupuncture for primary insomnia: a randomized controlled clinical trial.” Deutsche Zeitschrift für Akupunktur 57, no. 4 (2014): 31-32.
Chris Maslowski, L.Ac.
SOPHIA Natural Health Center