The C.A.M. Report
Complementary and Alternative Medicine: Fair, Balanced, and to the Point
  • About this web log

    This blog ran from 2006 to 2016 and was intended as an objective and dispassionate source of information on the latest CAM research. Since my background is in pharmacy and allopathic medicine, I view all CAM as advancing through the development pipeline to eventually become integrated into mainstream medical practice. Some will succeed while others fail. But all are treated fairly here.

  • About the author

    John Russo, Jr., PharmD, is president of The MedCom Resource, Inc. Previously, he was senior vice president of medical communications at www.Vicus.com, a complementary and alternative medicine website.

  • Common sense considerations

    The material on this weblog is for informational purposes. It is not medical advice or counsel. Be smart, consult your health professional before using CAM.

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  • Recent Comments

    Acupuncture for pelvic and back pain in pregnancy

    Researchers from the University of Melbourne in Australia review the results of 3 studies.

    First, the details.

    • 2 small studies of mixed pelvic/back pain and 1 large high-quality study on pelvic pain were reviewed.
    • In each study, treatment options included usual care (A) plus the acupuncture treatment (B) or usual care (A) alone — A + B vs A.

    And, the results.

    • Acupuncture in addition to standard treatment was superior to standard treatment alone and physiotherapy in relieving mixed pelvic/back pain.
    • Women with well-defined pelvic pain had greater relief of pain with a combination of acupuncture and standard treatment, compared to standard treatment alone or stabilizing exercises and standard treatment.
    • Few and minor adverse events were reported.

    The bottom line?
    The authors conclude, “Limited evidence supports acupuncture use in treating pregnancy-related pelvic and back pain.”

    But the results are clouded by the study design (A + B vs A), which may predispose to erroneous positive findings with acupuncture. More on this is here.

    8/25/08 20:59 JR

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