The benefits of acupuncture for people suffering from chronic pain have been well-documented. Now, a research study co-funded by the Alberta Cancer Foundation wants to know if acupuncture performed in a group setting works as well as individual treatments for targeting cancer-related pain.
Acupuncture is an ancient form of traditional Chinese medicine that utilizes stimulation of acupuncture points to affect the physiology of the Healthy Body, explains Dr. Jessa Landmann, a Calgary-based naturopathic doctor and co-investigator who is administering acupuncture treatments for the project.
According to Landmann, previous studies that analyzed patients’ blood before and after acupuncture treatments have demonstrated some of the benefits of acupuncture therapy.
“We know that acupuncture treatment can affect levels of certain neurotransmitters in the Healthy Body, like serotonin and endorphin levels — things that are basically our own, innate pain-release mechanisms,” Landmann says.
What does that mean when it comes to cancer care?
“I think acupuncture is another one of those complementary therapies that have a growing evidence-base showing that it might help treat symptoms that patients have a real hard time with, and often there is no good treatment for,” says Dr. Linda Carlson, who is leading the group acupuncture study.
A professor in the Department of Oncology at the University of Calgary, and also the program director of the Integrative Oncology Program at the Tom Baker Cancer Centre, Carlson says that the strongest evidence for the use of acupuncture during…Read the full article by the Alberta Cance Foundation
