Studies Dealing With The Effectiveness Of Auricular Acupuncture In Treating A Variety Of Conditions

Auricular acupuncture is a form of acupuncture in Overland Park involving the application of needles into specific points on the outer ear or auricle. When these points are stimulated, it promotes the healing of ailments and illnesses in other parts of the body.

Auricular acupuncture or ear acupuncture is often integrated into traditional acupuncture treatments. Although it is mainly based on TCM or traditional Chinese medicine (which is a type of alternative treatment that originated in China) principles, it was a French doctor named Paul Nogier who developed it in the middle of the 20th century.

Uses

Auricular acupuncture is commonly utilized to restore balance between two complementary yet opposing energies called yin and yang in the body and to promote the body’s circulation of chi or vital energy within the internal organs. In TCM, these effects are deemed vital to achieve health and for the treatment of disease.

Auricular acupuncture is an alternative form of treatment that’s commonly used for the following health conditions:

  • Allergies
  • Migraine
  • Anxiety
  • Low back pain
  • Arthritis
  • Irritable bowel syndrome
  • Chronic pain
  • Insomnia
  • Headache
  • Fibromyalgia
  • Depression
  • Constipation

Moreover, this type of acupuncture is occasionally used to support weight reduction, alleviate stress, promote better sleep, relieve pain, assist in the cessation of smoking, and to enhance mood.

Benefits

While large-scale medical research studies on ear acupuncture are currently inadequate, there have been some studies to suggest that this therapy might help in the treatment of several health problems.

Here are some studies on auricular acupuncture and its promising health benefits.

Constipation

In 2010, a clinical trial review was published in the JAMA or Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine. The review indicated that auricular acupuncture can help in the treatment of constipation.

Scientists examined 29 studies for the review. They were regarding the use of auricular acupuncture in the management and control of constipation.

Though all of the studies stated that auricular acupuncture works in treating constipation, the authors of the review noted that because of significant flaws the studies reviewed; to confirm these findings, more studies are recommended needed.

Insomnia

Various studies suggest that auricular acupuncture can help treat insomnia. Those studies also include a published trial in 2003 on the Complementary Therapies in Medicine, which examined the effects of a type of auricular acupuncture that involves using the use of magnetic pearls to stimulate the acupoints on the ear.

The study involved 15 elderly people with insomnia. These people were treated for three weeks with auricular acupuncture. According to the results the subjects experienced a meaningful rise in both quantity and quality of sleep, with improvements lasting for six months after the end of the treatment.

Post-Operative Pain

In 2010, the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine published a report stating the effectiveness of acupuncture in pain management. The review’s authors concluded that auricular acupuncture may be ideal the treatment for a various types of pain, especially post-surgical pain.

Migraine

According to a 2012 study published in Acupuncture and Electro-Therapeutics Research, auricular acupuncture is actually effective in treating migraine headaches.

Resolving findings on 36 patients with migraine, the authors of the study deemed that 2 months of weekly auricular acupuncture treatments each week resulted in vital improvements in mood and pain.

Smoking

Studies dealing with auricular acupuncture as an effective way to stop smoking have yielded mixed results. The Swiss Journal of Research in Complementary and Natural Classical Medicine in 2004 published a survey of 127 people who had been treated with auricular ear acupuncture for the cessation of smoking cessation. In that study, it was found that the treatment had a rate of success 41.1 percent for one year

The authors of the study stated that this rate of success makes auricular acupuncture “a competitive alternative to conventional medicine withdrawal techniques.”

The Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine published a trial involving 126 people and found that auricular acupuncture was as effective as a placebo treatment in bolstering the rate of smoking cessation. This research meant once-a-week treatments for consecutive weeks.

Applying Auricular Acupuncture for Well being and Health

If you want to try out auricular acupuncture for yourself, be sure to confer with your doctor first. Avoiding or delaying conventional care and treatment and can lead to severe consequences.