Investigating Warm Acupuncture for Treating Pain in Osteoporosis

Acupuncture—the stimulation of certain pressure points on the body typically with thin needles—has been a key component in traditional Chinese medicine for hundreds of years. Today, many older adults seek acupuncture therapy to treat chronic pain, either in addition to or instead of a drug regimen. But there are still concerns about the clinical efficacy and safety of this therapy in older adults. A recent study published in Chinese Acupuncture and Moxibustion investigated the potential of warm acupuncture therapy to treat chronic pain in postmenopausal women with osteoarthritis. Their study included 90 women who were evenly randomized into one of three groups: an intervention group that received warm acupuncture therapy; a group that received electroacupuncture; and a group that received a calcium supplement (Caltrate-D tablets; 600 mg/day).

Both acupuncture groups received therapy once per day for 30 days. Before and after the 30-day study period, researchers assessed for changes in bone density T value, visual analogue scale (VAS) scores, serum insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1), interleukin g (IL-6), and tumor-necrosis factor (TNF-alpha). 

The study found that across all three groups, the bone density T value in the patients of postmenopausal osteoporosis did not change significantly; however, VAS scores were reduced after treatment in all three groups, with the warm acupuncture group showing the most change (6.73 +/- 0.24 before treatment vs 4.43 +/- 0.26 after treatment). The value after treatment in the warm acupuncture group was different significantly as compared with the electroacupuncture group (5.13 +/- 0.31) and the medication group (5.17 +/- 0.33, both P<.05).

Additionally, the level of serum IGF-1 improved after treatment in the warm acupuncture therapy (119.5 +/- 20.1 ng/mL before treatment vs 156.5 +/- 23.9 ng/mL after treatment), which was more apparent compared with the electroacupuncture group (136.3 +/- 24.5 ng/mL) and the medication group (127.7 +/- 22.1 ng/mL; all P<.05]. The warm acupuncture group also showed superiority over the two other groups in reducing levels of IL-6 and TNF-alpha in serum (all P<.05).

Based on these findings, the researchers concluded in their study that warm acupuncture therapy significantly reduces pain in postmenopausal women with osteoporosis. They suggest that this result “could be related to increasing the level of IGF-1, decreasing the levels of IL-6 and TNF-alpha, promoting bone formation and inhibting bone absorption.”

Warm acupuncture is a technique in which the needle point is covered with a small amount of moxa, an herbal substance derived from dried leaves of an Asian plant called mugwort. The moxa is ignited, heating the needle throughout before being inserted into the patient. Electroacupunture is a more recent technique in which needles are inserted into specific points along the body and then attached to a device that generates small but continuous electric pulses.

-Allison Musante