by
Spoerel WE; Varkey M; Leung CY
From: Am J Chin Med, 4: 3, 1976 Autumn, 267-79
A course of 10 daily acupuncture treatments was given to 200 patients
who suffered from chronic pain syndromes of at least one year duration
and the result assessed at the end of the course of treatment and after
an interval of at least 2 months. Treatments were individualized using
needling of body loci distally and near the site of pain, and ear
acupuncture. In 38 patients suffering from chronic headaches, including
13 cases of migraine-type headache, 81% reported an improvement in
their condition, but only one patient was pain free for the 2-month
observation period. In 162 patients with other chronic pain problems,
99 or 61% were improved or pain free at the end of treatment; in 69 of
these a worthwhile degree of improvement persisted over the observation
period of 2 months. Thirteen percent of all patients did not respond to
acupuncture and in 26% the response was considered as transient only.
Daily treatments are not more effective than weekly or biweekly
treatments. Pain in the neck and shoulder region, in the knee and low
back pain responded to acupuncture with prolonged improvement in over
50% of the patients treated. Facial pain syndromes and pain in the
region of the trunk were least responsive and only 3 of 11 patients
with post-herpetic neuralgia reported still having less pain after 2
months. Needling of effective loci and particularly ear needling often
causes an instantaneous reduction or disappearance of pain; the speed
of this response can only be explained by a mechanism within the
nervous system. Based on our experience acupuncture represents a useful
therapeutic modality in the management of pain.