Treat Gout Pain With Acupuncture

Treat Gout Pain With Acupuncture is my review of benefits of acupuncture for gout pain. Specifically, it supports Gout And Acupuncture, which you should read first.

Gout Pain and Acupuncture Audience

I wrote Gout Pain and Acupuncture for GoutPal Seekers. Because it will help them at Step 3 of their gout management plan. At this time, GoutPal Seekers are still deciding between drugs, herbs, or diet to relieve gout pain. So, acupuncture gives you another treatment choice. To check your Gout Sufferer Type, see Questions for Gout Sufferers.

Treat Gout Pain With Acupuncture

This is my layman’s review of a 2013 assessment of Gout Pain and Acupuncture in 4 gout studies^[*]. Although in my earlier review of Uric Acid and Acupuncture, I looked at acupuncture points for gout. At this time, I’m reviewing the comparison with Western medicine for gout pain relief.

Can Acupuncture Help Gout Pain?

In the 4 gout pain studies^{[8, 14-16]}, acupuncture was compared with 25mg indomethacin, 3 times per day. Overall, gout pain was measured using a Visual Analog Scale (VAS). To explain, VAS is a line representing no pain to severe pain. In short, each gout patient marks the line to express how they feel about their gout pain. Then, researchers measure the distance along the gout pain line to arrive at a pain score.

In general, response to gout pain varies between individuals. However, the authors believe that pooling the results gives a balanced comparison between acupuncture and indomethacin for gout pain relief. Because, in all 4 studies, subjects treated with acupuncture reported better gout pain relief.

Gout Pain and Acupuncture Summary

In conclusion, 4 studies in this review show that acupuncture can provide better pain relief than 75mg indomethacin. Also, many other studies have reached similar conclusions. However, gout pain relief is very subjective. So, just because groups of people familiar with acupuncture get relief, does not mean that acupuncture will work for your gout pain. Also, if you were to choose drugs, you would expect more effective combinations and individual dosing than the comparison used in these studies.

How do you Treat Gout Pain With Acupuncture? — Do you Treat Gout Pain With Acupuncture?

Your Gout Pain and Acupuncture

Unfortunately, I have no personal experience of acupuncture for gout pain relief. Furthermore, the whole subject of Traditional Chinese Medicine is unfamiliar to me. Therefore, I cannot give you specific guidance on finding a suitable acupuncturist.

However, I can help you with general principles of gout management. Also, I would love to know about your personal experiences of acupuncture for gout pain relief. So please share your questions, experiences, and opinions in the gout forum.

Leave Treat Gout Pain With Acupuncture to browse more GoutPal Seekers Plan Step 3 Resources.

Gout Pain and Acupuncture References

^* This is a review of:

Authors:: Lee WB, Woo SH, Min BI, Cho SH.
Title:: Acupuncture for gouty arthritis: a concise report of a systematic and meta-analysis approach.
Published:: Rheumatology (Oxford). 2013 Jul;52(7):1225-32.

The following list of references are from the original report. However, I have omitted references that I have not referred to in my review, above. For the full report, you can search the Internet for the report title. Or, GoutPal Members can download a PDF copy of the report for personal private use.

8. Liu B, Wang HM, Wang FY. [Observation on therapeutic effect of electroacupuncture combined with local blocking therapy on acute gouty arthritis], Zhongguo Zhen Jiu , 2008, vol. 28 (pg. 659-61) .
14. Zhou L, Xu QF, Zhang WS. [Comparative observation of the efficacy on acute gouty arthritis between acupuncture combined with infrared irradiation and western medicine]. Zhongguo Zhen Jiu. 2011 Sep;31(9):787-9.
15. Zou R, Zhang HX, Zhang TF, Xu Y. Treatment to acute gouty arthritis with electro-acupuncture at different frequencies versus medication. Chin J Clin Rehabil , 2006, vol. 10 (pg. 188-9).
16. Zou R, Zhang HX, Zhang TF, Xu Y. [Observation on therapeutic effect of electroacupuncture combined with acupoint-injection on acute gouty arthritis]. Zhongguo Zhen Jiu. 2007 Jan;27(1):15-7.