Monday, April 9, 2012

Acupuncture Relieves Hemophilia Pain

In haemophilia, the blood's ability to clot is severely reduced because an essential clotting factor - a chemical within the blood - is partly or completely missing. This means people bleed for longer than normal. Persons with haemophilia experience persistent pain resulting in chronic arthritic symptoms. Older individuals with haemophilia who do not find relief from primary prophylaxis are particularly at risk for persistent pain in multiple joints as a result of repeated joint bleeding.

New research concludes that acupuncture is an effective and safe form of pain management for patients with hemophilia. Although clotting is impaired with hemophilia, acupuncture was shown to be safe in this study. The study reports that “no reported increased bleeding risk as a result of acupuncture use” was found. A total of 14 acupuncture treatments were applied to the subjects of the study and over 75 percent of the subjects had a significant decrease in pain levels. The researchers note, “This study suggests that acupuncture therapy can be a safe additional modality for pain management therapies in persons with hemophilia, although larger randomized studies are needed for further validation.”

Source: Haemophilia. 2012 Mar 8. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2516.2012.02766.x.

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