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Scientific Evidence...

Scroll down to just some of the recent scientific evidence on the efficacy of acupuncture

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The World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends acupuncture as a proven treatment for depression.

Research into acupuncture and depression
A double blind study was conducted among women suffering from depression. The results found that acupuncture was significantly better in treating depression than either sham acupuncture or no treatment at all (1998, Allen et al)
A further study (2000) found that acupuncture gave signifcant clinical improvement to depression sufferers. The patients were treated by true acupuncture ten times in two weeks and when compared to sham treatments showed a marked improvement. It was found to be especially good for treating anxiety symptoms (2000, Eich et al)

A 1998 study at University of Arizona into the treatment of depression in 33 women by acupuncture was fairly widely reported in the acupuncture profession and elsewhere. The study found that 64% of the women experienced full remission of depression following depression-specific acupuncture treatment, appearing to show that acupuncture can provide significant symptom relief at rates comparable to standard treatments such as psychotherapy or pharmacotherapy.
A 2004 study found that acupuncture was an effective treatment for depression during pregnancy. (University of Stanford)

ACUPUNCTURE AND IVF

A recent systematic review and meta-analysis of 7 trials, involving 1,336 women undergoing IVF.This study suggests that when acupuncture is given in conjunction with embryo transfer, it increases the chance of women becoming pregnant by 65%, in comparison to sham acupuncture or no additional treatment.

'It confirms what many of our practitioners and their patients have found, namely that acupuncture can be helpful in this area.