Research looking at acupuncture treating diabetic peripheral neuropathy.
In this research they looked at treating diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) with acupuncture. In diabetes there is often nerve damage that starts in the extremities that cause numbness and pain. DPN can be very uncomfortable and serious, leading to sores and open wounds that are very difficult to heal. They did 12 treatments in 8 weeks and compared it to a gruop on a waitlist for treatment. They then treated the waitlist group with acupuncture too. Both groups got standard western treatment as well. The acupuncture groups had significantly less numbness , pain and neuropathic disability. Interesting that there was no change in nerve conduction tests even though the patients improved in other ways. Maybe the nerve conduction test isn’t a great way to measure real quality of life changes for patients with nerve pain.