Can Menstrual Pain Be Relieved With Acupuncture?

By Author: Sam Berger
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Menstrual pain is something almost all women are very familiar with. Mood swings, bloating, cramping, are typical symptoms of menstrual discomfort. The symptoms can range from mild to severe and can seriously impact a woman's life.

Many women resort to over the counter medications to find relief however, a better resource may bring better relief. Aside from the warm baths or compresses and herbal remedies there are other alternatives. Studies have been done in Germany, that show that acupuncture may offer a valid alternative to medication and other remedies.

Acupuncture is a procedure from ancient Chinese Medicine, where specific body areas are pierced with fine needles for therapeutic purposes to relieve pain or produce regional anesthesia. It is believed that the body has energy fields that can be pierced with the needles and so cause healing and wellness. The needles are said to stimulate nerve endings that then link to the pain source and then are redirected to dissipate the pain. It is one of many alternative medicine routes you can take if you want to avoid the traditional method of medical doctors and medications ...
... for pain relief. Acupuncture has been around for thousands of years in China and is believed to bring the body into harmony of body and mind. Western medicine has a long way to go to understanding the body-mind interconnectedness that is prevalent in Eastern medicine. Western medicine concentrates more on the symptoms and treating of symptoms where Eastern medicine attempts to get to the origin of the problem and resolve it first in the mind so the body will follow in its healing.

New research conducted at Charite University Medical Center in Berlin, studied 201 women who agreed to receive acupuncture or no treatment for their menstrual symptoms. After 3 months, and 10 acupuncture sessions, 63% of the women who received the acupuncture treatments reported 33% improvement of their symptoms. The control group who did not receive treatment showed only 23% improvement of their symptoms.

Researchers concluded that acupuncture can offer benefits to women suffering from menstrual discomfort. For women who feel they have tried everything to deal with their menstrual problems, acupuncture could be just the difference that helps change their symptoms.