Acupuncture
Acupuncture is a nonpharmacological noninvasive medical intervention that has been included in the Essential Levels of Care since 2023.
The efficacy of acupuncture depends on its antalgic, anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory, decontracting-antispasmodic, trophic and vasomodulatory, neuroendocrine regulatory, and sedative-anxiolytic effects. These effects result from the cascade of mechanical, electrical and biochemical phenomena triggered by stimulation of specific points in the body with acupuncture needles.
Therefore, acupuncture is a therapeutic resource that can be included in integrated medicine care pathways for acute and chronic conditions with the aim of:
- reduce the drug load in complex patients;
- improve the effectiveness of therapy by combining approaches with different and complementary mechanisms of action;
- increase tolerability, such as during cancer treatment.
Based on national and international guidelines, the conditions that are major indications for acupuncture are as follows:
- headache;
- musculoskeletal and rheumatological disorders;
- female and male reproductive disorders, particularly dysmenorrhea and menopausal syndrome; pregnancy research;
- gastrointestinal disorders;
- allergic oculorhinitis;
- cancer patient support for chemotherapy-induced asthenia, nausea and vomiting, chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy, aromatase inhibitor arthralgias, postoperative pain, anxiety and insomnia.
For further study:
-Acupuncture for pain therapy
- Acupuncture (PDQ®)-Health Professional Version.
- Vickers AJ, Cronin AM, Maschino AC, Lewith G, MacPherson H, Foster NE, Sherman KJ, Witt CM, Linde K; Acupuncture Trialists' Collaboration. Acupuncture for chronic pain: individual patient data meta-analysis. Arch Intern Med. 2012 Oct 22;172(19):1444-53. doi: 10.1001/archinternmed.2012.3654. PMID: 22965186; PMCID: PMC3658605.
- Linde K, Allais G, Brinkhaus B, Fei Y, Mehring M, Vertosick EA., Vickers A, White AR. Acupuncture for the prevention of episodic migraine. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2016, Issue 6. Art. No.: CD001218. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD001218.pub3
- Goldman N, Chen M, Fujita T, Xu Q, Peng W, Liu W, Jensen TK, Pei Y, Wang F, Han X, Chen JF, Schnermann J, Takano T, Bekar L, Tieu K, Nedergaard M. Adenosine A1 receptors mediate local anti-nociceptive effects of acupuncture. Nat Neurosci. 2010 Jul;13(7):883-8. doi: 10.1038/nn.2562. Epub 2010 May 30. PMID: 20512135; PMCID: PMC3467968.