Hot flashes, intense feelings of heat with sweating and a rapid heartbeat, are a common problem for women going through menopause.
A new study found that Chinese acupuncture, an alternative medicine that uses needle insertion and manipulation in the body, reduces the severity and occurrence of hot flashes and other menopausal symptoms.
The Ankara Training and Research Hospital in Turkey studied 53 postmenopausal women splitting them into two groups, including a placebo group.
The women rated their symptoms using a 5-point scale before and after treatment. 27 women received the alternative medicine for 20 minutes twice a week for 10 weeks. The other women were told they were receiving acupuncture treatment but the needles did not actually penetrate the skin.
At the end of the study, women who received the real acupuncture showed significant drops in the severity of their hot flashes and other menopausal symptoms like mood swings.
The authors warn that their sample size was very small and there was no follow-up with the patients, so they cant conclude how effective the treatment in the long run.
Acupuncture is used to treat arthritis, back, neck, knee and shoulder pain, and anxiety. In the Joint Replacement Center at the Mayo Clinic in Arizona, acupuncture is part of standard care. They are also producing their own trials on acupuncture and hot flashes.
This study was published Monday in the Acupuncture of Medicine journal online.
