Randomised trial, 2022
Does auriculotherapy reduce PMS symptoms?
Both auriculotherapy and placebo auriculotherapy reduced PMS symptoms, pain, and anxiety. The benefits were similar between the two groups, suggesting placebo effect may play a role.
What they did
91 women were assigned to three groups: active auriculotherapy (microneedles on 7 PMS acupuncture points), placebo auriculotherapy (microneedles on 7 unrelated points), or control. Each group had 8 weeks of 1 session per week. PMS, pain, anxiety, and quality of life were measured at baseline, before week 5, after treatment, and 1 month later.
What they found
Both the auriculotherapy group and the placebo group showed significantly lower PMS symptoms, musculoskeletal pain, and anxiety scores compared to baseline. For quality of life improvement and at the one-month follow-up, benefits were observed only in the placebo group, not the active treatment group.
What it means for you
Auriculotherapy reduced PMS symptoms in this study, but placebo treatment with needles on non-acupuncture points was equally effective. This suggests the benefit may come partly from the placebo effect or the attention received rather than from the specific acupuncture points chosen. Auriculotherapy may be helpful as an additional treatment but does not appear to work better than placebo.
91
women studied
8
weeks of treatment
7
acupuncture points used
About the study
- Original title
- Effects of Auriculotherapy on treatment of women with premenstrual syndrome symptoms: A randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial
- Authors
- Korelo RIG, Moreira NB, Miguel BAC et al.
- Journal
- Complementary therapies in medicine
- Year
- 2022
- Study design
- Randomised trial
- What was tested
- Auriculotherapy with microneedles on seven acupuncture points, once per week for 8 weeks
- Open access
- Yes
- Read the paper
- doi.org/10.1016/j.ctim.2022.102816
Topics
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