ARTICLE FROM: https://www.healthline.com/health-news/acupuncture-acupressure-ease-cancer-pain
Acupuncture and acupressure are effective ways of relieving pain associated with cancer.
That’s according to a studyTrusted Source published today in JAMA Oncology, an American Medical Association peer-reviewed journal.
Previous studies into acupuncture’s effect on cancer pain have shown inconsistent results, the researchers noted.
This new research, sourced from English and Chinese language biomedical databases, looked at randomized clinical trials comparing acupuncture and acupressure with a “sham control,” analgesic therapy, or other “usual” methods for managing cancer.
The researchers reported that the analysis showed acupuncture and/or acupressure was “significantly associated” with reduced pain and decreased use of analgesics (pain relievers), although the evidence level was moderate.
The researchers recommend more rigorous trials be done to identify the effects on specific types of cancer as well as to integrate acupuncture and acupressure into clinical care to reduce opioid use.
“If acupuncture becomes a more standard method of pain management, patients will be less likely to need opioids, or will not require doses that are as high,” Janet Thomson, an acupuncturist and Chinese herbalist based in Oakland, California, told Healthline. “Not only does that decrease the addictive potential of opioids but reduces the side effects of opioids such as constipation, which can be truly brutal for patients.”
Reducing pain without pills
Nicole Glathe, a licensed acupuncturist and pain management specialist based in Los Angeles, has seen firsthand how acupuncture can help people with cancer.
“My father was diagnosed with stage four glioblastoma (brain cancer) in 2017 and passed in 2018,” she told Healthline. “As he rapidly progressed, he got increasingly severe headaches. His doctors threw every painkiller under the sun at him, but acupuncture was the only thing to reduce his pain to a manageable level.”
Glathe, who is launching a clinically backed herbal medicine platform called Elix in January, said the study can have a “massive” effect on not only how the pain can be managed, but how effective other forms of treatment can be.
“If a patient doesn’t have to use additional pain medication, we’ve lessened the potential for side effects or addition,” she said. “This is especially important during cancer treatment because the patient is generally receiving high doses of chemotherapy or other harsh medications. Finding ways to manipulate the body’s own methods of pain reduction avoids overtaxing the body. Acupuncture has also been shown to reduce stress and nausea, both of which can be highly beneficial during cancer treatment.”