Does Acupuncture for Menopause Work?

Acupuncture is now considered one of the most effective forms of complementary therapy available, recommended by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) for the treatment of migraines and tension-type headaches on the NHS – but does acupuncture for menopause work?

A new study published in BMJ Open suggests it can.

Menopausal Symptoms and Treatments

For many women, the menopause – and the host of troubling physical and emotional symptoms that come with it – can be a time of severe anxiety and distress.

Menopausal symptoms typically arise at the point of a woman’s life when menstruation ceases – usually between the ages of 45 and 55 – and the body tries to adapt to decreasing amounts of oestrogen.

The symptoms range from mild to severe and can include hot flashes, sweating, sleep disturbance, emotional vulnerability, fatigue, memory loss, headaches, joint pain, skin and hair problems and urinary and vaginal symptoms, such as vaginal dryness and more frequent urinary incontinence and urinary tract infections.

While treatments for reducing menopausal symptoms exist, they are far from perfect.

The menopause is influenced by hormones, or rather, by a change in the levels of three reproductive hormones – oestradiol, oestrone and oestriol (collectively referred to as oestrogen) – which are mainly produced by the ovaries and control a woman’s reproductive cycle. It is these hormones that stimulate the release of an egg each month (the menstrual period) in sexually mature women.

Throughout a woman’s life, the number of eggs in her ovaries gradually depletes, until, at the time of the menopause, virtually no eggs remain. At this point, less oestrogen is produced, causing the body to behave differently as it tries to adapt, which gives rise to the many symptoms menopausal women experience.

Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) can relieve certain menopausal symptoms such as hot flushes and night sweats, although some women can’t or do not want to use HRT due to its side effects and the fact that it can increase the risk of developing breast and other forms of cancer.

Nonhormonal interventions do exist – including exercise, relaxation and herbal remedies – though there is little evidence of their effectiveness.

New findings from a Danish research team, however, suggest that a brief course of acupuncture may help to ease moderate to severe menopausal symptoms without adverse side effects.

 

 

Acupuncture for Menopause

Acupuncture is a treatment derived from ancient Chinese medicine in which fine needles are inserted into the body at certain points to relieve or prevent pain. The needles stimulate sensory nerves under the skin and muscles, resulting in the body producing certain natural substances, such as pain-relieving endorphins.

Acupuncture is used to treat a wide range of health conditions, including joint pain, dental pain, postoperative pain, migraines and chronic headaches.

Now, researchers at the University of Southern Denmark have published a study which suggests that acupuncture treatment may relieve many of the symptoms experienced by menopausal women.

The study involved the recruitment of 70 women with moderate to severe menopause symptoms. Participants were split into two groups. The first group – the control group – received no acupuncture treatment until week six of the study. The second group – the intervention group – received five weeks of standardised Western medical acupuncture treatments using predefined acupuncture points.

Participants were given MenoScores Questionnaires (MSQs) to complete – designed to measure outcomes from the patient’s perspective – before members of the acupuncture group received their first treatment, and then again after 3, 6, 8, 11, and 26 weeks.

Symptoms measured included hot flushes, day and night sweats, sleep disturbances, general sweating, emotional vulnerability, memory changes, skin and hair problems, physical symptoms, abdominal symptoms, urinary and vaginal symptoms, sexual symptoms, and fatigue.

At six weeks, 80 percent of the women in the intervention group said that the sessions had helped them. In particular, compared to the control group, women in the acupuncture group were significantly less troubled by hot flushes – a difference that was evident after just three weeks of treatment.

Aside from reduced hot flushes, women in the acupuncture group were also less troubled by day and night sweats, general sweating, sleep disturbances, emotional and physical symptoms, and skin and hair problems.

Although the researchers were careful to point out that they couldn’t rule out the placebo effect, they nonetheless suggest that the study’s findings show that acupuncture for menopause can indeed work and is “a realistic option for women who cannot, or do not wish to use [HRT].”

“We can’t explain the underlying mechanism behind acupuncture, nor determine how much of the effect is caused by placebo,” said Prof Frans Boch Waldorff from the University of Southern Denmark and one of the study’s authors. “But this was a safe, cost-effective and simple procedure, with very few side-effects reported by the women. Women seeking acupuncture treatment for menopausal symptoms should be informed of the current evidence and its limitations, so they can make a decision.”

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