Peripheral Neuropathy

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Chinese Medicine Research Hub

Systematic Review

Acupuncture appears to have an effect on diabetic peripheral neuropathy, effectively improving nerve conduction and clinical symptoms.

2021 Journal of Clinical Pharmacy and Therapeutics Acupuncture treatment of diabetic peripheral neuropathy: An overview of systematic reviews
Yu B, Li M, Huang H, Ma S, Huang K, Zhong Z, Yu S, Zhang L.

Chinese Medicine Research Hub

Systematic Review

Acupuncture has been shown to be more effective than vitamin B treatment in terms of clinical efficacy rate for chemotherapy induced peripheral neuropathy.

2020 Medicine A systematic review and meta-analysis of the efficacy of acupuncture and electroacupuncture against chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy
Hwang MS, Lee HY, Choi TY, et al.

Chinese Medicine Research Hub

Randomised Controlled Trial

Compared with usual care, acupuncture resulted in significant improvement in chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy symptoms.

2020 JAMA Oncology Effect of Acupuncture vs Sham Procedure on Chemotherapy-Induced Peripheral Neuropathy Symptoms A Randomized Clinical Trial
Bao T, Patil S, Chen C, et al.

Chinese Medicine Research Hub

Randomised Controlled Trial

Acupuncture treatment significantly improves neuropathic symptoms in women suffering from chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy after breast cancer therapy.

2019 The Oncologist Acupuncture for Chemotherapy-Induced Peripheral Neuropathy in Breast Cancer Survivors: A Randomized Controlled Pilot Trial
Lu W, Giobbie-Hurder A, Freedman RA, Shin IH, Lin NU, Partridge AH, Rosenthal DS, Ligibel JA

Chinese Medicine Research Hub

Systematic Review

Acupuncture, regardless of the trial design, showed a positive effect on pain-related outcome measures for participants with diabetic peripheral neuropathy.

2019 Acupuncture in Medicine Acupuncture for the treatment of lower limb diabetic peripheral neuropathy: a systematic review
Nash J, Armour M, Penkala S

Chinese Medicine Research Hub

Systematic Review

The majority of randomised controlled trials showed benefit for acupuncture over control in the treatment of diabetic neuropathy, Bell's palsy, and carpal tunnel syndrome.

2017 The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine Acupuncture for the Treatment of Peripheral Neuropathy: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Alexandra Dimitrova, Charles Murchison, and Barry Oken.

Chinese Medicine Research Hub

Systematic Review

The majority of trials demonstrate a positive effect of acupuncture over control condition in the treatment of neuropathy.

2015 Neurology Effects of Acupuncture on Neuropathic Pain: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis
Alexandra Dimitrova, Charles Murchison, Barry Oken

Executive Summary

Write an executive summary in the form of a blog article on the topic of "Research into Chinese medicine treatment for Peripheral Neuropathy" summarising the research below and using language that can be easily understood by patients and avoiding medical jargon using a professional and caring tone of voice.

Write an executive summary in the form of a blog article on the topic of "Researched Chinese medicine treatments for Peripheral Neuropathy" summarising the research below in an objective and easy to understand way, and using language that can be easily understood by patients. Group the article into Chinese medicine treatments first, followed by nutrition and other treatments. Avoid using medical jargon and use a professional and caring tone of voice.

Write me a concise but easy to understand executive summary on the topic of "Chinese medicine treatments for Peripheral Neuropathy" based on the following research that I will give you. Your summary should be 2 paragraphs long in Australian English spelling and include references to the studies.

A Systematic Review published in 2021 in the journal Journal of Clinical Pharmacy and Therapeutics found that Acupuncture appears to have an effect on diabetic peripheral neuropathy, effectively improving nerve conduction and clinical symptoms. Acupuncture appears to have an effect on DPN, effectively improving nerve conduction and clinical symptoms. Although the methodological quality of the included studies was generally very low and defects were frequent, our study highlights areas where improvement in methodology is required. There is a need for further study of the pathogenesis of DPN, and for developing a unified standard for methods of acupuncture treatment, acupoint selection, and adverse reactions reporting. Traditional Chinese medical practices such as acupuncture should adopt an evidence-based approach to provide greater confidence in their use.

A Systematic Review published in 2020 in the journal Medicine found that Acupuncture has been shown to be more effective than vitamin B treatment in terms of clinical efficacy rate for chemotherapy induced peripheral neuropathy. Aside from 1 study using sham-EA as a control group, all 12 studies included acupuncture versus pharmacological treatments. The results showed that acupuncture could show a superior clinical efficacy than vitamin B therapy. However, the methodological quality of the involved studies was generally low.

A Randomised Controlled Trial published in 2020 in the journal JAMA Oncology found that Compared with usual care, acupuncture resulted in significant improvement in chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy symptoms. We found therapeutic benefit of real acupuncture for neuropathic pain that is consistent with previous pilot acupuncture CIPN trials. Distinctively, our study is the first, to our knowledge, to incorporate a sham treatment and a nontreatment control to evaluate the efficacy of acupuncture for CIPN. The addition of a sham acupuncture control in an acupuncture clinical trial is difficult owing to the challenge of incorporating a truly inert placebo. In addition, a sham control limits the ability of a small effect size to elucidate a true difference between real and sham acupuncture. Not only did our study demonstrate the feasibility of conducting a sham-controlled acupuncture trial, it generated sufficient pilot data to inform a definitive sham-controlled efficacy trial. Our trial is limited by its small sample size, single center, and short-term follow-up.

A Randomised Controlled Trial published in 2019 in the journal The Oncologist found that Acupuncture treatment significantly improves neuropathic symptoms in women suffering from chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy after breast cancer therapy. In this randomized pilot trial, women with stage I-III breast cancer with grade 1 or higher chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy post adjuvant chemotherapy were tested. Patients were split evenly into two groups: an immediate acupuncture group and a control group. Those in the immediate acupuncture arm underwent 18 acupuncture sessions over 8 weeks before the treatment was halted. Conversely, the control group received the usual care over eight weeks before beginning nine acupuncture sessions across the same time span. Different parameters such as sensory scores, neurotoxicity, and pain severity were evaluated at the start, then at 4, 8, and 16 weeks post enrollment. The results, which excluded any statistical references, showed a notable improvement in the immediate acupuncture group in terms of neuropathic symptoms, including sensory scores, neurotoxicity summary score, and pain severity score when observed at the end of eight weeks. No negative side effects were observed during the entire period. This indicates acupuncture as a potential therapeutic option for breast cancer patients suffering from chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy.

A Systematic Review published in 2019 in the journal Acupuncture in Medicine found that Acupuncture, regardless of the trial design, showed a positive effect on pain-related outcome measures for participants with diabetic peripheral neuropathy. Acupuncture, regardless of the trial design, showed a positive effect on pain-related outcome measures for participants with DPN. However, a meta-analysis could not be performed owing to the highly heterogeneous outcome measures and limited number of high-quality RCTs available. Findings from this review showed that acupuncture improves symptoms despite the variations in acupuncture dosage, and provides beneficial effects in comparison with vitamin B therapies and no treatment. However, owing to problems with control group suitability and blinding, strong non-specific effects cannot be ruled out.

A Systematic Review published in 2017 in the journal The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine found that The majority of randomised controlled trials showed benefit for acupuncture over control in the treatment of diabetic neuropathy, Bell's palsy, and carpal tunnel syndrome. Fifteen studies were included: 13 original RCTs, a long-term follow-up, and a re-analysis of a prior RCT. The selected RCTs studied acupuncture for neuropathy caused by diabetes, Bell's palsy, carpal tunnel syndrome, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), and idiopathic conditions. Acupuncture is probably effective in the treatment of HIV-related neuropathy, and there is insufficient evidence for its benefits in idiopathic neuropathy. Acupuncture appears to improve nerve conduction study parameters in both sensory and motor nerves. Acupuncture is beneficial in some peripheral neuropathies, but more rigorously designed studies using sham-acupuncture control are needed to characterize its effect and optimal use better.

A Systematic Review published in 2015 in the journal Neurology found that The majority of trials demonstrate a positive effect of acupuncture over control condition in the treatment of neuropathy. The majority of RCTs reviewed showed clear benefit for acupuncture over control in the treatment of diabetic neuropathy, Bell’s palsy and carpal tunnel syndrome. Acupuncture is probably effective in the treatment of HIV-related neuropathy and there is insufficient evidence for its benefits in idiopathic neuropathy. Meta-analyses of all diabetic neuropathy and bell’s palsy data using a summary estimate random effects model showed combined Odds Ratio (OR) of 4.23, p<0.001 favoring acupuncture over control for pain outcomes. The majority of trials demonstrate a positive effect of acupuncture over control condition in the treatment of neuropathy. Further more rigorously designed studies are needed to better characterize this effect.

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