4 Jun 2016

Treating menopause symptoms using acupuncture

From This Way Up, 1:30 pm on 4 June 2016
Acupuncture Doll

Acupuncture Doll Photo: (Flickr user Thunderchild7 Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license)

Acupuncture can reduce the frequency of common menopause symptoms by about one-third.

We explored the topic of menopause late last year with this 7 part series. In it we heard about concerns regarding the long term use of HRT and the questionable efficacy of alternatives like black cohosh or bioidentical hormones. This means that many women endure hot flushes and night sweats without any effective treatment.

Nancy Avis from Wake Forest School of Medicine conducted a large-scale study on more than 200 women, who were experiencing at least four hot flushes or night sweats on average every day. Her results confirm smaller studies she's done in the past, with people receiving acupuncture reporting an average 36 percent reduction in how often they experience hot flushes.