Acupuncture as an Adjunct Treatment for Primary Dysmenorrhea: A Comparative Study

Abstract

Background: Primary dysmenorrhea occurs 40%-50% in women of reproductive age. Acupuncture may assist treatment of menstrual pain.

Objective: This study compared the effects of the acupuncture program Chongmai, or Thoroughfare Vessel (TV), to sham acupuncture on primary dysmenorrhea.

Methods: The current authors selected 3 groups of 10 patients each with primary dysmenorrhea for this comparative, prospective longitudinal study. The first group was treated at the TV points, the second group underwent sham acupuncture, and the third group (control) did not receive any kind of acupuncture. All groups were allowed to use steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). Menstrual pain was measured using a visual analogue scale (VAS). The results were analyzed using a Student's-t test in GraphPad Prism 5.0. Acupuncture needles were applied at the following TV acupuncture points: (1) Gongsun (SP 4); (2) Qichong (ST30); (3) Neiguan (PC 6); and (4) Baihuanshu (BL 30), the metameric action point of the pelvic area. Electrical stimulation was applied through each needle at 120 Hz for 40 minutes.

Results: TV acupuncture, sham acupuncture, and/or NSAIDs substantially reduced pain in all 10 patients in each respective group (100%). TV acupuncture treatment reduced the symptoms of primary dysmenorrhea, and symptoms were reduced for at least 6 months. Application of needles at simulated points away from the TV acupuncture program did not reduce pain significantly.

Conclusions: TV acupuncture treatment can reduce the symptoms of primary dysmenorrhea, and the effect can last for 6 months.

Keywords: Chongmai; Pelvic Pain; Primary Dysmenorrhea; Sham Acupuncture; Thoroughfare Vessel (TV).

FIG. 1.

Evaluation according to visual analogue scale (VAS) of treatment of primary dysmenorrhea comparing Thoroughfare Vessel program (TV), sham acupuncture (SA), and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NT) for 6 cycles (N=10, p<0.0001). Patients who received treatment with TV after the third month had a complete disappearance of pain. Treatment with sham acupuncture did not produce improvement. The NSAID use produced pain reduction during the lifetime of the drug(s).