Fifteen-day Acupuncture Treatment Relieves Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy

Abstract

Our study aimed to investigate the effects of acupuncture on diabetic peripheral neuropathy. We compared 42 cases treated with acupuncture with 21 cases exposed to sham acupuncture and observed the effects on nerve conduction velocity and a variety of subjective symptoms associated with diabetic peripheral neuropathy. Three of the six measures of motor nerves, and two measures of sensory function, demonstrated significant improvement (p < 0.05) over the 15-day treatment period in the acupuncture group, while no motor or sensory function significantly improved in the sham acupuncture group. There were also significant differences in vibration perception threshold between the groups (p < 0.05) and when compared to the baseline levels (p < 0.01) in the acupuncture group. Acupuncture was significantly more effective than sham for treatment of numbness of the lower extremities, spontaneous pain in the lower extremities, rigidity in the upper extremities and alterations in temperature perception in the lower extremities after therapy. Our pilot study has, therefore, provided evidence that acupuncture may be clinically useful for the radical treatment of diabetic peripheral neuropathy.

Evaluation of Acupuncture in the Management of Chemotherapy-Induced Peripheral Neuropathy

“…Pregabalin appears to be effective, but it is expensive and retains a poor side-effect profi le. In diabetic neuropathy, however, preliminary studies show some promise in using acupuncture as an adjunct to standard medication [10][11][12] and this may translate to chemotherapy induced PN. The exact mechanism of acupuncture remains unclear.…”

Effects of Acupuncture on Sensory Perception: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

“…In two studies the impact of a MA treatment series on the VDT in patients suffering from diabetic peripheral neuropathy was explored. Tong et al noted an improvement of the ability to detect vibration [88] while Abuaisha et al found no changes of the VDT after MA [23,88]. Lang et al and Lundeberg et al reported that a single application of neither EA nor MA had an effect on the VDT in healthy volunteers [100,103].…”

“…In the following, the term ''sham'' is used according to the description of the respective publication. Sham interventions were needling at non-acupuncture points with stimulation (17 out of 48; 35.4%) [24, 25, 30, 31, 35, 42-44, 50, 53, 62, 73, 83-85, 94, 95], without or with minimal stimulation (10 out of 48; 20.8%) [22,27,37,44,46,47,57,86,93,95], minimal or no intensity needle stimulation at classical acupuncture points (10 out of 48; 20.8%) [40,44,66,80,88,92,95,97,103,104], non-penetrating placebo needles (12 out of 48; 25%) [28,33,45,52,60,61,72,76,78,79,98,99], or treatment with an inactive laser pen (5 out of 48; 10.4%) [31,48,49,77,95]. In 25 of these 48 studies (52.1%) the effect on sensory thresholds was significantly larger in the verum than in the sham acupuncture group [25, 28, 31, 33, 37, 40, 46, 50, 52, 57, 60, 62, 72, 76, 78-80, 83-85, 88, 92, 93, 95, 97].…”

“…Lang et al and Lundeberg et al reported that a single application of neither EA nor MA had an effect on the VDT in healthy volunteers [100,103]. Vibration stimuli were applied with a Rydel-Seiffer tuning fork [100] or an electromechanical device [23,88,103].…”

Akupresur Efektif Meningkatkan Nilai Ankle Brachial Index Pada Diabetisi

“…Peningkatan nilai ABI berkaitan dengan perbaikan sirkulasi darah ke kaki. Pada Diabetisi proses sklerosis dari pembuluh darah telah berlangsung dalam waktu lama (Tong, Guo, & Han, 2010). Pemberian pijatan dengan akupresur tidak akan mengubah bentuk dan struktur dari pembuluh darah yang mengalami sklerosis tersebut.…”