This blog is to share the latest research and development of acupuncture and raise the awareness of alternative treatments for your conditions, and is for information only.

Monday, 2 June 2014

Acupuncture improves shoulder pain after laparoscopic surgery

Laparoscopic surgery is known as keyhole surgery or minimally invasive surgery. It allows operations in the abdomen performed through small incisions. Although laparoscopic surgery has many advantages such as shorter recovery time and less scarring, up to 80% of patients after laparoscopic surgery developed shoulder pain, ranging from mild to severe, and lasted up to 72 hours. The cause of shoulder pain is believed due to the use of carbon dioxide which irritates the diaphragm during and after surgery. The purpose of using carbon dioxide is to inflate the abdomen for better surgical view.

The conventional treatments of postlaparoscopic shoulder pain include the ways to remove carbon dioxide from abdomen after surgery and analgesic medication. However these treatments are often unsatisfactory and have many side effects.

Researchers in Israel conducted a clinical study to investigate whether individualized acupuncture relieve postlaparoscopic shoulder pain. Patients with postlaparoscopic shoulder pain were diagnosed based on a thorough physical examination including traditional tongue, pulse, facial and voice diagnosis according to classic traditional Chinese medicine theory; and were treated with customized acupuncture. Pain assessment was conducted prior to and two hours after acupuncture using Visual Analogue Scale 0 to 10. Results showed that shoulder pain and general pain after laparoscopic surgery were significantly reduced after acupuncture compared to base line assessment. No adverse effect was observed.

Authors concludes that individualized acupuncture relieve shoulder pain and general pain after laparoscopic surgery.

Reference:
Kreindler G et al., Treating postlaparoscopic surgery shoulder pain with acupuncture.  Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2014;2014:120486.    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=Kreindler+g%2C+acupuncture

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