This guideline, developed in partnership with the Royal College of Physicians, is aimed at health care professionals, commissioners, and providers of services; people with chronic primary or secondary pain; and the families of chronic pain patients.
The researchers sought to understand acupuncture’s specific contribution in somatosensory afference and the precise brain circuits involved in improved clinical pain.
Verum acupuncture was found to be more effective than sham acupuncture in improving pain, sleep quality, and general status recovery, but not fatigue in patients with fibromyalgia syndrome.
Acupuncture may offer short-term benefits for leg pain associated with chronic diskogenic sciatica.
Increasing attention has focused on the use of multidisciplinary approaches that combine pharmacologic and integrative nonpharmacologic therapies for pain management.
Group acupuncture may alleviate pain and improve quality of life in patients with painful diabetic neuropathy.
Approximately half of the 14% of Americans who have severe headache and migraine report having tried interventions such as meditation, yoga, and deep breathing exercises.
Electrical stimulation, particularly electroacupuncture, was found to alleviate pain at myofascial trigger points.
Investigators hypothesize that needle and laser acupuncture may improve clinical and subjective symptoms in patients with diabetic peripheral neuropathy.
In the approach adopted by NICE, the benefit of acupuncture is compared with sham acupuncture rather than a direct comparison with pharmaceutical treatments.
