Acupuncture may help to alleviate pain caused by primary dysmenorrhea.
While five systematic reviews reported contradictory results, the three of higher quality suggested that individuals who received acupuncture experienced lower levels of pain than their counterparts who received sham treatments. And two studies on acupressure also reported positive results and improved pain measured with VAS. The highest quality study showed that EA at SP6 was better in pain relief compared to EA at GB39. Cho et al. found that acupuncture was associated with a significant reduction in pain compared with pharmacological treatment or herbal medicine. Besides, one study found acupuncture at different acupoint had no difference in the mean VAS score reduction. Due to the study design, it only demonstrated the effects of difference meridian acupoints on primary dysmenorrhea, which, however, could not rule out the role of acupuncture therapy for the disease.
Only two studies reported adverse events, such as fainting during acupuncture, a hematoma, and a needling sensation after acupuncture. There were no serious adverse events. But these can be avoided with caution. Therefore, with the correct management and application, acupuncture is a safe technique for PD treatment.
