Research Paper on Unlocking the Mystery of Acupuncture: Ancient Chinese Medicine in the Modern World

Introduction

Acupuncture has been a part of Chinese traditional medicine for centuries. It is one of the alternative medications that are gaining traction in the modern world. The medicine practice entails stimulating body parts through using a needle that penetrates the skin at various depths meant to alleviate pain. The scientific principles behind acupuncture remain unknown; some claims that it works by balancing vital body energies while others believe that it has a neurological effect. An acupuncturist defines acupuncture as the insertion of needles into the body to balance their energies. The procedure is intended to improve wellbeing and relief different kinds of pain including headaches, blood pressure and whooping cough. The text is an in-depth literature review on acupuncture as an alternative to treat chronic pain.

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History and Progress of Acupuncture in Pain Relief

In the paper titled, "The Relationship between Traditional Chinese Medicine and Modern Medicine." Dong (2013), bridges the gap between Chinese medicine and modern practices. By giving a background on Chinese medicine effectiveness, he creates a strong basis for it to be adopted in the contemporary world. Regarding acupuncture, Dong states that the practice entails an understanding of the entire body based on the various functions conducted. Through the understanding of the multiple sections, it becomes possible to treat diseases and pathological processes, thus improving the physique. In the paper Dong, (2013), states that the method is well adopted in leading Chinese hospitals as a way of relieving surgical pain and psychological dysfunction. It is also ideal for those who are allergic to narcotic drugs.

Wang, (2016) in his paper titled, "Clinical research progress of acupuncture after pulse diagnosis," examines the effectiveness of the acupuncture after pulse diagnosis in the treatment of pain. Wang states that acupuncture has advantages when compared to conventional acupuncture. Usage of acupuncture in medicine shows that it was effective in relieving the pain of the respiratory system in 89% of the patients. In the treatment of Gynopathy, it was shown to be 95% effective while bringing effective therapy for hypertension. Wang, (2016) believes that acupuncture after diagnosis has associated benefits, including improvement of efficacy, helps in treating severe diseases and ease of being observed.

Jishun and Mittelman, (2014), give a chronology of usage of acupuncture. In their paper titled, "Acupuncture: Past, Present, and Future," they describe its usage in the past and the current advancement to the technique. Some notable text includes the effectiveness of acupuncture in improving the immune system. Today, electroacupuncture is effective in relieving cancer pain among human and animal patients. The practice has been accepted, and it is now practised through intuition and practice in eastern medicine. Current practitioners suggest mass education of medical practitioners since it demonstrates new treatment options.

Acupuncture in Treatment of Chronic Pain

Since the information available on acupuncture may be limited, Chen, Liu, Shimizu and Yang, (2019) discusses the appropriate acupuncture treatment schedule for chronic pain. The paper opens up by stating the accreditation of acupuncture by the world health organization. Through a review of randomized trials, results were found on the effectiveness of the method as a treatment to chronic pain. From the results, Chen et al., (2019) discovered that less frequency of acupuncture achieves the same effects as a higher frequency. They also found that the pain level fell to the lowest after 18 weeks of treatment. As a proposal for future trials, they suggested that there should be standard treatment protocols. Future treatment schedules should be added to STRICTA to enhance randomized trial.

The paper by Davis, Badger, Valentine, Cavert and Coeytaux, (2018) explores the effectiveness of Acupuncture in Medicaid population suffering from chronic pain. In their work, they access the acceptability of acupuncture among patients with chronic pain. With a total of 156 patients over 60 days, the results showed that 119 out of the 156 people who received the treatment had significant improvements over the duration that they were under treatment. 96% of those treated said that they would recommend the treatment to other patients suffering from chronic pain. In their conclusion, Davis et al., (2018) conclude by stating that patients in the Medicaid population well receive the pain treatment method.

Gabriella and Jian (2013), explore the effectiveness of acupuncture and other non-invasive techniques in the treatment of acute back pain. In their research, a total of 2861 patients were part of the systematic review. Through a randomized pilot study, complimentarily and alternative methods (CAM) and also checking the quality of life (QoL).The results revealed that acupuncture or dry needling might not be the best way for handling acute back pain. However, the techniques are ideal for chronic back pain, and it is perfect for pain relief as compared to no treatment or sham treatment. For considerable more extended periods up to three months, acupuncture was shown to be effective in helping improve body functions as compared to no treatment. Different types of acupuncture, coupled with conventional therapies, were shown to be much useful in relieving pain than the conventional therapies alone.

Acupuncture for chronic pain is well discussed by Yin, Buchheit and Park, (2017). First, they unearth the current knowledge regarding the treatment procedure where they state that the practice is widely misunderstood and maybe wrongly approached in the mainstream pain treatment system. Yin, Buchheit and Park, (2017) state that the practice is being explored as it promises to offer non-opioid treatment therapies for chronic pains. From their review, it is evident that acupuncture is an effective method of treating the low back, shoulders, knee palms and persistent headaches. The method is being sought as an ideal alternative to Opioids. In conclusion, they state that the method is effective for chronic pain when done by a professional, but there is a need for further research to streamline the process.

In the paper by Thomas et al., (2016), the authors explore the role of alternative therapies for chronic pain. For them, there is a higher interest in the use of alternative medicine as a treatment for chronic pain. They explore various aspects such as psychology, cognitive behaviour therapy and acupuncture. For them, acupuncture has proven to be effective almost immediately for those suffering from neck pain. From their research, it is evident that acupuncture is well accepted in the United States with more and more numbers of citizens receiving the treatment. The safety of the method has been considerably high, with only one patient receiving adverse nerve effects.

In a closely related study, He et al., (2017) examine the effectiveness of acupuncture for cancer pain. The study is conducted in three stages which are; examine the existing studied on acupuncture, update the current information on the latest clinical trials and also analyze the results from other clinical studies. From their studies, they conclude that an understanding of acupuncture for a cancer patient is essential as a measure to alleviate their pain. Issues that revolve around the scope of cover and providence of umbrella reviews are shown to be consistent with those of meta-analysis. He et al., (2017) conclude that through an identification of the existing gaps on different types of acupuncture interventions, it is possible to direct future trials based on the specific issue.

In the study by Woodbury, Soong, Fishman and Garcia, (2015), there is a deep emphasis on complementary and alternative medicine. The principal findings of their research are that the most common alternative medicines in the united states include manipulation and therapies, use of herbs and mind-body energies. Acupuncture, as manipulation and procedural therapy, is beneficial in handling osteoarthritis and chronic migraines. The procedure has also been shown to be effective when used with non-narcotic analgesics and thus reducing the need for therapy and also helping lower the rate of medication. They conclude by stating that the procedure may be effective for handling intense body pains.

In the paper titled, "Beliefs About a Complementary and Alternative Therapy-Based Chronic Pain Management Program for a Medicaid Population." Donovan et al., (2017) conduct a qualitative based study that examined the various experiences of the patient that underwent through the treatment. Through semi-structured interviews, five themes were realized. They included the relation between pain and stress, anxiety associated with acupuncture, the temporary pain relief, the better quality of life and the relation between patient and provider. Form the various aspects that were examined; it became clear that acupuncture as a pain management technique is ideal for pain management and essential tool in helping reduce emergency room visits and helping patients lead better lives Donovan et al., (2017).

Pan et al., (2017), states the effectiveness of acupuncture in handling breast cancer patients. With a total of 810 patient examined, the results suggested that acupuncture had been moderate in improving the stiffness. However, there were no significant differences that were observed for hot flashes that are experienced by breast cancer patients. The procedure was also not effective in handling pain and gastrointestinal issues. However, acupuncture is seen to be potentially useful in relieving functional stiffness. The authors suggest further trials to help confirm the effectiveness of the findings.

In the results discussions, Pan et al., (2017) reveal that cancer patients are more predisposed to pain as compared to those with other illnesses. The treatment side effects of breast cancer patients are adverse, including emotional distress and gastrointestinal symptoms. Cardiovascular events and hormone therapy occur in various degrees among the patients, with the treatment, it becomes clear that the clinical treatment outcomes are reduced. Placebo trials used as control measures revealed significant effects of the treatment on the cancer patients.

In a systematic review conducted by Xiang, Cheng, Shen, Xu and Liu, (2017). It is evident that there is the significant statistical difference between the efficiency of real acupuncture and those conducted under sham control for a variety of pains. Xiang et al., (2017) state that in controlled acupuncture, there was some extent of relief within the initial 30 minutes of the procedure. A comparison made for a similar procedure in disease-related pains and real acupuncture. There were higher relief levels as compared to other interventions including analgesic injections. in their research, no negative effects are documented, and thus they concluded that acupuncture resulted to a higher level of pain relief as compared to sham acupuncture and injections. They suggest stricter design in RCT to ensure better pain relief for disease-related pain.

In the work by Salehi, Marzban and Imanieh, (2015), they go a step further to explore the curative effects of acupuncture through a systematic literature review. By providing a historical background of the issue, they make it easier for the reader to have a different perspective of the art. A systematic review of 35 articles reveals that different responses are felt for different health issues. In the review, they examine common pain causations like embryo transfer, progressive myopia, Glaucom...