[Acupuncture for painful diabetic neuropathy].

In the present study I investigated the effects of acupuncture treatment on the pain of diabetic neuropathy and parsesthesia as well as the duration of the morbidity and treatment results. The study examined subjective symptoms associated with diabetic neuropathy (like spontaneous pain and parsesthesia) in 38 patients (divided into a 20-patient group treated with acupuncture and an 18-patient drug treatment group) were treated both for one month with either one acupuncture session per week or pharmacologically. The results showed that the duration of the morbidity was on the average rather short, namely approximately 8 years. In patients during the hyperalgesic period, changes in subjective symptoms (VAS) was significantly better in the acupuncture treatment group than in the drug treatment group.