Suffer from chronic pelvic pain? Acupuncture can help

Pelvis (or pelvic region) is the region between the abdomen and thighs. It includes sacrum and the coccyx at the back, pelvic bone, pelvic cavity, pelvic floor and perineum. Within pelvic cavity there are bladder, reproductive organs, and the rectum. Around the pelvic bone there are skeletal muscles that attach the bone. Pelvic pain is the pain in the pelvic region (lower abdomen). Pelvic pain can be a sign of the problem with one of the organs in the pelvic cavity, such as bladder, lower intestine, rectum and reproductive system (i.e. uterus, ovaries, fallopian tubes etc in women and prostate in men).

The common causes of pelvic pain are appendicitis, bladder disorders, sexually transmitted diseases, kidney infection, kidney stones, intestinal disorders, nerve condition, hernia, pelvic inflammatory diseases, IBS, (ovulation, periods pain, endometriosis, ovary cysts in women), (prostatitis in men) and many more. Diagnosis is needed by doctors.

Chronic pelvic pain which is continuous or episodic pain in the lower abdomen or pelvis lasting at least six months is one of the most common pain conditions experienced by women. It has great negative impact on women’s quality of life including constant physical and psychological aspects. It depends on what causes the pain and various treatments are available including surgical and non surgical approaches such as hormonal therapy. Improving day-to-day pain management, functioning, and quality of life through multidisciplinary and holistic approaches are also recommended care to women with chronic pelvic pain. The use of complementary health approaches is common for pain conditions. An estimated 35-52% of patients with chronic pain use therapies such as vitamins and mineral supplements, massage therapy or acupuncture for their symptoms. This is applied to chronic pelvic pain. A survey showed that 60% of perimenopausal women with self-reported pelvic pain, and 84% of women with interstitial cystitis used some form of complementary medicine. Recently a study from the US has shown that most women who used acupuncture (91%) had at least some improvement in symptoms based on self-report.

Recent review has shown that acupuncture can reduces chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome for men. In this review, (three studies, 204 participants) based on short-term follow-up, acupuncture reduces prostatitis symptoms in an appreciable number of participants compared with sham procedure Acupuncture likely results in little to no difference in adverse events. It probably also decreases prostatitis symptoms compared with standard medical therapy in an appreciable number of participants

References

Chao et al Pain Med (2015) 16:328-40

Franco JV et al Cochrane Database Syst Rev (2018) Jan 26