Patients with carpal tunnel syndrome receiving
acupuncture felt greater symptomatic relief than those taking ibuprofen
according a clinical study published in the Journal of Acupuncture and Meridian
Studies.
Recently Dr. Hadi Momeninejad and colleagues in Iran
carried out a clinical study to assess the effectiveness of acupuncture
treatment in mild to moderate carpal tunnel syndrome. Fifty patients with mild
to moderate carpal tunnel syndrome were divided into acupuncture group and
ibuprofen group. Patients in the former group were given acupuncture at
acupoints PC-7 (Daling), PC-4 (Ximen), PC-6 (Neiguan), PC-8 (Laogong), HT-2
(Qingling), HT-7 (Shengmen), HT-8 (Shaofu), LU-9 (Taiyuan), and LI-11 (Quchi),
for 20 min twice a week for 4 weeks. Patients in the latter group were given
ibuprofen 400mg, three-time a day for 10 days. The outcome measures include the
visual analog scale (VAS) score, the score on the Boston Carpal Tunnel
Questionnaire for Functional Status and Symptom Severity (BCTQ FUNCT and
SYMPT), and the electrodiagnostic findings at the baseline and end of 4-week
treatment.
At the end of treatment, patients with acupuncture had
greater improvement in pain, numbness, tingling and performing daily activities
e.g. doing house work compared with those treated with ibuprofen. The VAS
score, BCTQ FUNCT and SYMPT and electrodiagnostic findings were significantly
improved in patients with acupuncture compared with their baseline and drug
control group.
The study showed that acupuncture is a very effective and
alternative treatment to mild and moderate carpal tunnel syndrome.
Reference
M Hadianfard et al., Efficacies of Acupuncture and
Antiinflammatory Treatment for Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. J Acupunct Meridian Stud
2015;8(5):229e235. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S200529011400226X
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