Acupuncture For Tinnitus
Due to the low success rate for conventional treatments of tinnitus, people are now looking into alternative medicines as a way to treat this progressive condition.
Studies have shown that tinnitus acupuncture treatment, when given two times per week for 15 weeks, resulted in the tinnitus of 56% of the patients to be reduced. People who had tinnitus for over three years had a greater response to the tinnitus acupuncture treatment compared to people who had been suffering from tinnitus for a shorter amount of time.
Other studies have resulted in improvements with just 20% to 40% of tinnitus acupuncture patients. Compared to acupuncture success rates for other conditions, this is a rather low rate. Tinnitus acupuncture has shown good short term improvement but disappointingly low long term improvement of the condition in sufferers.
This particular study showed that tinnitus acupuncture treatment may now have the value that acupuncture can display for other conditions, and that further research needs to be undertaken for alternative tinnitus treatments.
Acupuncture is when thin needles are placed into the skin at certain points. These specific points on the body are believed to be able to stimulate the nervous system as well as encourage the production of endorphins - natural hormones which reduce pain.
The needles are generally left in the skin for between one quarter of an hour to half an hour. Acupuncture treatment requires the patient to undergo the procedure many times over a time frame of several weeks or even months, depending on the results and condition.
Whilst acupuncture is very effective in some medical fields, it is still not a force in the treatment of tinnitus. Tinnitus acupuncture is worth a try if all else has failed, however should not yet be relied upon as a first port of call for treatment of tinnitus.