In a recent research, it has been claimed that acupuncture could reduce excruciating pains associated with specific types of cancer. The study was made public in the journal “Acupuncture in Medicine”. It was done by a team from the HanseMerkur Centre for Traditional Chinese Medicine at the University Medical Centre in Hamburg. There were 11 patients involved in the study which was based to identify impact of acupuncture on cancer patients.
“The data suggest that acupuncture has a positive effect on CIPN”, said the team, though they feel that extensive research is required to be done.
It has been known that after going through chemotherapy, one can go through range of health concerns, including pain and at times, one find it difficult to walk down also. For the study, six people were made to go through ten sessions of acupuncture over three months. It was being tracked and found that there is considerable impact on cancer patients.
It was also found that the blood flow also improved and that’s why there are hopes that more research is required to be done so that conclusive assertions are made. It has been more found that cancer patients are more susceptible to a condition called chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN). This condition can only be developed after one consumes some anti-cancer drugs, including vinca alkaloids, platinum-based drugs such as cisplatin, oxaliplatin and carboplatin, and the taxanes docetaxel and paclitaxel.
It has been found by the team that such drugs could affect peripheral nerves in the calves and feet, and that is what causes severe pain to patients. There is no doubt that cancer patients do go through range of health concerns after they are diagnosed with the disease. There is need for such patients be given the right amount of care as far as possible.