Acupuncture is a Chinese practice thought to be around 3,000 years old. It involves sticking needles into certain points on the body to promote the proper flow of qi, the body's vital energy. Long pooh-poohed by Western medicine, its popularity continues to rise.
A 2018 study in the Journal of Pain analysed 39 randomised trials on 20,827 patients with shoulder pain, chronic musculoskeletal pain, headaches or osteoarthritis. Acupuncture users reported less pain than those who underwent sham acupuncture or none at all, with benefits persisting more than a year after initial treatment. Helene Langevin, formerly of America's National Institutes of Health, has theorised that needles twist strands of connective tissue known as fascia, which in turn pull on nerve endings in a way that might reduce pain. A 2020 paper in JAMA Internal Medicine, however, found no significant difference in pain relief between true and sham acupuncture, suggesting much of the effect may be placebo.
A 2022 review in Complementary Therapies in Medicine found benefits for migraines and tension headaches, cancer-related fatigue, female infertility (alongside medical treatment), post-operative nausea and chronic pelvic pain in men. Trials for 86 other conditions have not been robust enough to demonstrate any positive effects.
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