Acupuncture after MRI Review

1. What is Acupuncture?

The term "acupuncture" describes a family of procedures involving the stimulation of points on the body using a variety of techniques. The acupuncture technique that has been most often studied scientifically involves penetrating the skin with thin, solid, metallic needles that are manipulated by the hands or by electrical stimulation. Practiced in China and other Asian countries for thousands of years, acupuncture is one of the key components of traditional Chinese medicine. ^{[National Institute of Health]}

Some of the things Acupuncture can help with include:

• stimulate weakened nerves
• offer pain relief by relieving pressure
• heal poor circulation
• a headache and nausea relief
• pain relief

Acupuncture is something to consider to aid in the recovery of different types of nerve damage including facial palsy (paralysis) as a result of facial nerve damage as a result of either neurofibromatosis type 2 (NF2), or bell's palsy.

2. Advantages of Acupuncture

1. Acupuncture can be a good noninvasive alternative to pain management if you do not want to rely on pain medications.
2. Acupuncture helps to stimulate and energize the self-healing and regeneration capacity of the body.
3. Acupuncture can help support and strengthen the immune system.
4. Acupuncture can assist with drug recovery, alcohol addiction and smoking cessation.
5. Acupuncture in a beneficial health care modality to prevent disease, and maintain well-being.
6. Acupuncturists view each person as a dynamic and holistic being. With the in-depth diagnosis, we formulate an individual treatment plan based on the diagnosis which treats the cause of the illness instead of just the symptoms.
7. Acupuncture has successfully treated millions of people for many medical diseases, disorders, and symptoms, including; pain, allergies, infertility, stress, and post-stroke syndrome for over 3,000 years.

3. Warning / Suggestion

For individuals with Neurofibromatosis Type 2 (NF2), acupuncture should be done by medical professionals only.

The reason for doctors should specifically be found to have Acupuncture is that as tumors grow and are treated blood flow in the body might be different than expected by the person placing the needles. This can be especially dangerous when a person has spinal cord tumors.

4. Sources

1. National Institutes of Health (NIH). "National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH). "Acupuncture."
   https://nccih.nih.gov/health/acupuncture
2. Ndubisi, Chioma, et al. "Auricular acupuncture as an adjunct for pain management during first trimester abortion: a randomized, double-blinded, three arm trial." Contraception (2018).
   https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S001078241830516X

Conclusions: "Women undergoing first trimester uterine aspiration assigned to auricular acupuncture reported substantially less pain and anxiety than women assigned to placebo or usual care."
3. Wu, Ming-Shun, et al. "The efficacy of acupuncture in post-operative pain management: a systematic review and meta-analysis." PloS one 11.3 (2016): e0150367.
   Conclusion: "Our findings indicate that certain modes of acupuncture improved postoperative pain on the first day after surgery and reduced opioid use. Our findings support the use of acupuncture as adjuvant therapy in treating postoperative pain."
4. Dong, Chris, et al. "Effects of electro-acupuncture on labor pain management." Archives of gynecology and obstetrics 291.3 (2015): 531-536.
   https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2005290116301492
5. Gollub, Randy L., K. K. Hui, and G. B. Stefano. "Acupuncture: pain management coupled to immune stimulation." Zhongguo yao li xue bao= Acta pharmacologica Sinica 20.9 (1999): 769-777.
   https://europepmc.org/abstract/med/11245083

Notes

Without proper medical training an individual using

sham acupuncture: needle insertion at wrong points (points not indicated for the condition) or non-points (locations that are not known acupuncture points)

real acupuncture: the use of normal insertion