New Delhi: The usage of ancient pressure-point healing techniques, acupuncture and acupressure, could reduce cancer-related pain, showed a new study in US medical journal JAMA Oncology.
The study found that acupuncture by itself or in conjunction with acupressure is significantly associated with reduced cancer pain and decreased use of analgesics.
Published in the American Medical Association journal in December, the research found considerable evidence supporting a therapeutic effect of acupuncture, but highlighted that “the evidence level was moderate”.
“This finding suggests that more rigorous trials are needed to identify the association of acupuncture and acupressure with specific types of cancer pain and to integrate such evidence into clinical care to reduce opioid use,” it said.
The researchers reviewed 17 randomised clinical trials (RCT) and meta-analysis of 14 trials in English- and Chinese-language literature.
Pain is a distressing symptom experienced by over 70 per cent cancer patients and is inadequately controlled in nearly 50 per cent of them, according to a research published in medical magazine, Future Medicine.
Despite the availability of pain killers, addiction to these medicines and their other adverse health effects pose critical challenges to pain management for cancer patients.
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What is acupuncture and acupressure?
Top health organisations in the US, like the American Society for Clinical Oncology and the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, have recommended the usage of non-pharmacological interventions — such as acupuncture — for managing cancer pain.
According to the Union Ministry of AYUSH, which manages traditional methods of healing in India, acupressure is an “ancient healing art that uses the fingers or any blunted objects to press key points called as ‘Acu Points’ (energy stored points) on the surface rhythmically… to stimulate the body’s natural self-curative abilities”.
“When these points are pressed, they release muscular tension and promote the circulation of blood and the body’s life force to aid healing,” according to the ministry.
The same energy points are used for acupuncture and acupressure. While acupressure requires gentle but firm pressure of hands or any blunted objects, acupuncture employs needles.
What the study showed
The study reviewed 17 RCTs with a sample of 1,111 patients and meta-analysed 14 trials with a total of 920 patients.
The researchers had two main objectives: Determine if acupuncture/acupressure reduces cancer pain as against with usual care; and if the use of these interventions reduce the need for analgesic (painkiller) medication among patients.
“A favorable association was also seen when acupuncture and acupressure were combined with analgesic therapy in 6 random clinical trials (RCTs) for reducing pain intensity and in 2 RCTs for reducing opioid morphine dose,” the study said.
Under the six trials which evaluated the impact of combining acupuncture/acupressure with painkiller medicines, two showed a reduction in daily mean morphine equivalent opioid (an extremely addictive painkiller) dose among patients who received acupuncture or (and) acupressure.
The study also focused on a specific kind of cancer pain, seen in lung cancer, gastric cancer, pancreatic cancer, and malignant neuropathic pain. But the results of the analysis showed diverse outcomes, lowering the level of certainty of the evidence.
“Because the measurements for pain were subjective patient-reported outcomes, detection bias existed… Therefore, we could not fully evaluate publication bias,” it said.
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