AIM June 2008 Text.qxd
نویسندگان
چکیده
Objective To evaluate the effect of acupuncture on rehabilitation of motor function, reduction in lymphoedema and improvement in perceived heaviness and tightness in the arms of women who had undergone breast cancer surgery. Subjects and Methods Twenty nine women who had had mastectomy or segmentectomy with axillary dissection, presenting with lymphoedema and/or a decrease in movement amplitude of the upper limb ipsilateral to surgery were studied. The patients underwent 24 acupuncture sessions once a week from February to December 2004. The movement amplitude of shoulder flexion and abduction and circumferential measurements of the arm, forearm and wrist were evaluated before and after one, three and six months of treatment. Statistical analysis was performed by Friedman’s test. Results Significant improvements in range of movement of shoulder flexion and abduction (P<0.001), degree of lymphoedema (P=0.016), and sense of heaviness and tightening (P<0.001) in the affected limb after six months of therapy were observed. For circumferential measurements of the arm, forearm and wrist, no significant improvement between the different periods of treatment was observed. Conclusions Acupuncture in rehabilitation after breast cancer surgery was shown to be associated with improvements in movement amplitude of the shoulder, symptoms of heaviness and tightness in the arm, and the degree of lymphoedema. However, controlled trials should be performed to ascertain whether the results were due to the natural history of the complaint or the acupuncture treatment.
منابع مشابه
AIM December 2008 Text.qxd
During the last five years a large number of randomised controlled clinical trials (RCTs) have been published on the efficacy of acupuncture in different conditions. In most of these studies verum is compared with sham acupuncture. In general both verum and sham have been found to be effective, and often with little reported difference in outcome. This has repeatedly led to the conclusion that ...
متن کاملAIM June 2007 Text.qxd
Several validated sham acupuncture devices have recently become available. While some debate exists on whether such needles are the best placebo control for an RCT of acupuncture, practical advice based on research experience is missing from the literature. This paper shares our concrete experience using the most commonly used such sham needle (the ‘Streitberger needle’ and its paired verum nee...
متن کاملAIM December 2008 Text.qxd
High quality acupuncture clinical trials using single blind methods have been reported; however, the results of these single blind studies are controversial. Several investigators recently invented and validated a subject masking, single blind needle which to the subject looks and feels like a real needle. These recently designed placebo devices, which overcome the inadequacies of previous cont...
متن کاملAIM June 2008 Text.qxd
Objectives To compare the effect of acupuncture (manual and electroacupuncture) with that of a nonpenetrating sham (‘placebo’ needle) in patients with osteoarthritic knee pain and disability who are blind to the treatment allocation. Methods Acupuncture naïve patients with symptomatic and radiological evidence of osteoarthritis of the knee were randomly allocated to a course of either acupunctu...
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