What conditions can acupuncture actually treat?
World Health Organization: Review and analysis of clinical studies on acupuncture
1. Diseases for which acupuncture has been shown to be an effective treatment through controlled clinical trials, symptoms of
Adverse effects of radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy
Allergic rhinitis (including hay fever)
Biliary colic
Depression (including depressive neurosis and post-stroke depression)
Dysentery, acute bacterial dysentery
Dysmenorrhea, primary
Gastroparesis, acute (peptic ulcer, acute and chronic gastritis, and gastric cramps)
Facial pain (including craniomandibular dysfunction)
Headache
Primary hypertension
primary hypotension
induced labor
knee pain
Leukopenia
Low back pain
Fetal malposition
Pregnancy vomiting
Nausea and vomiting
Neck pain
Oral pain (including dental pain and temporomandibular joint dysfunction)
Frozen shoulder
Post-operative pain
Renal colic
Rheumatoid arthritis
Sciatica
Sprains
Impact
Tennis elbow
2. Diseases and conditions for which acupuncture has been tentatively shown to be effective but which still require further study are
Abdominal pain (in acute gastroenteritis or due to gastrointestinal cramps)
Acne vulgaris
Alcohol dependence and detoxification
Bell’s palsy (facial paralysis)
Bronchial asthma
Cancer pain
Cardiac neurosis
Acute attacks of chronic cholecystitis
Gallstone disease
Competitive stress syndrome
Closed cranial injury
Non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus
Earache
Epidemic hemorrhagic fever
Nosebleeds, narrowly defined (no broad or primary disease)
Ocular pain from subconjunctival injections
Female infertility
Facial muscle spasm
Female urethral syndrome
Fibromyalgia and fasciitis
Gastric dysfunction
Gouty arthritis
Hepatitis B virus carrier status
Herpes zoster (human (alpha)-herpesvirus 3)
Hyperlipidemia
Ovarian hypofunction
Insomnia
Childbirth pain
Lactation deficiency
Non-organic male sexual dysfunction
Meniere’s disease
Neuralgia, post herpes zoster
Neurodermatitis
Obesity
Opium, cocaine and heroin dependence
Osteoarthritis
Pain from endoscopy
Thrombo-occlusive vasculitis pain
Polycystic ovary syndrome (Stan syndrome)
Post-tracheal dialysis in children
Post-operative recovery
Premenstrual syndrome (PMS)
Chronic prostatitis
Pruritus
Nerve root pain and myofascial pain syndrome
Primary Raynaud’s syndrome
Recurrent infections of the lower urinary tract
Reflex sympathetic dystrophy
Urinary retention, trauma
Schizophrenia
Drug-related salivary gland hypersecretion
Dryness syndrome
Sore throat (including tonsillitis)
Acute spinal pain
Stiffness of the neck
Temporomandibular joint dysfunction
Costochondritis
Tobacco dependence
Tourette’s-obstruction syndrome
Chronic ulcerative colitis
Urinary tract stones
Vascular dementia
Whooping cough
3, other traditional therapies are difficult to come up with, and individual acupuncture clinical control trials report effectiveness, so acupuncture is worth a try. Such diseases and symptoms are
Melasma
central plasmacytic chorioretinopathy
color blindness
deafness
Mental handicap
Irritable bowel syndrome
Neurogenic bladder due to spinal cord injury
Chronic pulmonary heart disease
small airway obstruction
4. Diseases and conditions that can be attempted by acupuncturists under conditions that provide special knowledge of modern medicine and adequate monitoring equipment are
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease with respiratory distress
Coma
Infantile convulsions
angina pectoris with coronary heart disease
Infants and children with diarrhea
Post-viral encephalitis sequelae in children
Progressive and pseudomyelitis