Using acupuncture to treat cancer bone pain
Acupuncture is already valued for its ability to ease general cancer pain and nausea and vomiting due to chemotherapy. Now, acupuncture is becoming recognized for its ability to help patients with bone pain that occurs when cancer spreads to the bones.
There are no good studies looking at acupuncture and bone pain in cancer patients, so researchers have begun looking at what happens that makes the body feel pain when cancer spreads to the bones. Their conclusion was that acupuncture could help cancer patients who are experiencing bone pain, but that further research is still needed.
When acupuncture is used to help relieve cancer pain, it helps patients lower doses of their pain management medications to reduce unpleasant side effects like confusion, constipation, nausea and respiratory depression. The treatment of bone pain, which is very difficult to treat with medication, is one more way that acupuncture can help increase quality of life in cancer patients.
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