Acupuncture Can Help Alleviate Fatigue Accompanied by Breast Cancer, Study Says
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iStockphoto/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — A new study reveals that acupuncture can help alleviate some of the fatigue accompanied by breast cancer, Health Day reports.
The lead author of the study said that the results of the study provided good evidence of the effect acupuncture can have in helping to manage the debilitating symptom. The study involved over 300 women with breast cancer who were under outpatient care at one of nine health care facilities in the United Kingdom. Most of the participants were white, had an average age of 53 and had been diagnosed with either stage 1, 2 or 3 breast cancer and had all experienced at least moderate fatigue for an average of 18 months, Health Day says.
Over a six-week period, all patients continued receiving the same care they had been given before the study, and over 200 of the patients underwent weekly 20-minute acupuncture sessions. At the end of six weeks, patients who had received the acupuncture reported feeling better in terms of overall fatigue, physical and mental fatigue, anxiety and depression levels, functional well-being, emotional well-being, social functioning and overall quality of life, according to Health Day.
The study appeared online in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio