Herbal Medicine or Acupuncture? A Guide to Choosing the Right Treatment

Acupuncture, particularly electro-acupuncture (EA), has been shown to improve ovulation rates, reduce the LH/FSH ratio, and lower testosterone levels, especially in cases of PCOS. Notably, acupuncture yielded pregnancy rates comparable to hormonal treatments but with fewer side effects and miscarriages [8]. These treatments also improve endometrial receptivity by increasing endometrial blood flow and modulating growth factors, chemokines, and integrins, which are vital for embryo implantation [37]. In the interpretation of AE data, the observed AEs in both acupuncture and HM interventions, including common side effects like tiredness, pain, and dizziness, were comparable to those of control groups. Importantly, no significant differences in serious adverse events (SAEs) were identified between groups, suggesting that EATM therapies have a similar safety profile to conventional treatments in the context of ART.
It is also practiced by other health professionals, such as nurses, pharmacists, physician assistants, and therapists. It may Herbal Medicine for Back Pain also be called allopathic medicine, biomedicine, Western, mainstream, or orthodox medicine. TCM practitioners employ multiple modalities to regulate the body and promote well-being.

The Council does not endorse individual acupuncture and herbal medicine practitioners or services. A TCM practitioner is trained in Traditional Chinese Medicine, including acupuncture, herbal medicine, cupping, and more. They treat the root cause of your health condition rather than just symptoms, often addressing underlying imbalances that affect the body’s natural harmony. Acupuncture and Chinese herbs offer a powerful and complementary approach to health and healing. By working together, these therapies enhance each other’s effects, providing comprehensive support for a wide range of conditions.
Whereas acupuncture excels in moving qi and blood, the daily use of herbs provides the nutrition (yin) and energy (qi) to support the move toward flowing balance of a healthier systems response between acupuncture treatments. Consider that herbal medicines are nature’s reprogrammers of the body-mind connection. These findings support the potential safety and effectiveness of EATM as an adjunct to fertility treatment. Endometriosis causes significant pain and fertility burden to women and greatly reduces their quality of life (36). Currently, traditional laparoscopic surgery and hormonal treatments are widely used, but they suffer from high recurrence rates and obvious side effects (37).
Upon the completion of the first 107 credits (6 trimesters) on campus, students will receive the Master of Acupuncture (MAc) degree. The last 27 credits are fully online in an asynchronous format which allows students to adapt the program in a more convenient schedule to finish each term in the allotted time frame, to stay on track and complete in one year. Completed an advanced clinical practice at the affiliated hospital of Liaoning college of Traditional Chinese Medicine. Treatments aim to support ovarian response, promote follicle development, and reduce the side effects of stimulation drugs.

Details about both courses and how to register can be found by clicking the "Learn More" button below. Please contact AACMA if you would like the contact details of qualified TCM practitioners in your local area or alternatively click here to find your nearest practitioner. Qi Gong (chee goong) with roots in Chinese medicine literally means energy work and can be practised in 3 ways. RePORTER is a database of information on federally funded scientific and medical research projects being conducted at research institutions. Reports and studies of herbal products used in TCM have found a variety of safety issues.
A prescription is a preparation of several herbal products which is based on syndrome differentiation and according to the principles of TCM diagnostic theory. In the United States, data from the National Health Interview Survey show that the use of acupuncture by U.S. adults more than doubled between 2002 and 2022. In 2002, 1.0 percent of U.S. adults used acupuncture; in 2022, 2.2 percent used it.

For many years, researchers have claimed that acupuncture points are unique locations in the body’s surface, at which the skin’s electrical conductivity is higher than in the neighboring tissue [78,79,80,81,82]. These findings have led to the theory that the meridians reflect the pathways of least electric resistance throughout the body. Structurally, these may represent fascial cleavage planes, where extracellular ionic fluids can spread electric potentials over great distances without overcoming cellular membranes’ resistances [83].
At David Lee Acupuncture, Chinese Herbal Medicine may be prescribed as a part of your overall treatment plan, in conjunction with, or as a substitute for other treatments. Furthermore, in autism, some positive effects could be noticed, as shown in the study conducted by Silva et al. (2005). These authors found that a group of eight children aged below six years, regularly submitted to “Qigong” massage, had decreased autism behavior, improving speech, sensory and motor skills, and general well-being [198]. Infrared thermography can be used to measure the dynamic changes of temperature in the hands during “Qigong” practice (Figure 11).
The flu, or influenza, is an infectious disease that often presents with symptoms like fever, chills, cough, and fatigue. In Chinese medicine, the flu is considered a wind-heat invasion that disrupts the body’s natural defense systems. Acupuncture can help to expel wind and heat from the body, stimulate the immune system, and relieve symptoms such as fever and congestion. Common herbal formulas for the flu include yin qiao san and chai ge jie ji tang, which are used to clear heat, relieve congestion, and boost the body’s immune function.

To validate these findings and guide clinical integration, future studies should prioritize large-scale, multi-center, and double-blind randomized controlled trials with standardized treatment protocols and rigorous methodological designs. Mechanistic research and long-term outcome studies across diverse populations are also essential in order to establish the role of East Asian traditional medicine in reproductive medicine. Another limitation lies in the variability of practitioner expertise, which could have influenced treatment outcomes. While acupuncture is ideally administered by certified professionals, only 12 of the 25 acupuncture studies explicitly confirmed that treatments were delivered by certified acupuncturists [7,11,30,36,39,40,42,43,46,47,48,49].
This art was developed, improved and spread over time by the Chinese laborer people in their continuous fight against diseases. Here, the bodywork was used to heal traumatic injury and correct structural misalignments, and keep the martial artist fit and healthy [159]. “Tuina” can affect the five sense organs’ health and help a person feel more vivid via hetero or auto treatments, wherein specific self-massage applications play an essential role [64]. Fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) is a rheumatic disorder characterized by chronic, generalized and diffuse musculoskeletal pain.
It involves inserting small needles to stimulate specific parts of the body and its neural network. Someone with a chronic condition may need one or two treatments per week over several months. The physical stimulation of needle insertion at these sites may affect pain processing in the central nervous system and muscles and increase blood flow to certain parts of the body. Acupuncture involves inserting very thin needles into the body at different locations and depths.