Susan was 14 the first time her mom brought her in to see me. She was frustrated because for 2 months in a row, her mom had to come pick her up from school early from severe period pain. She was otherwise healthy and active, and actually enjoyed school and hanging out with her friends, so it was unlike her to want to leave school early.

The first thing her mom did was take her to their family doctor. The doc assured them that it was normal, and that she’d grow out of it eventually. But in the meantime she could try to find a birth control pill that could help.

Thankfully, neither of them liked that solution, so they decided to try acupuncture. After just 2 visits, her next period was completely pain free. Usually I would recommend twice a month treatments for a few months so that we treat it well and the pain doesn’t come back. But Susan was super busy with sports and wasn’t able to come in that often. Even so, with just a few treatments, she can go months without any pain. Then, when the pain starts coming back, usually 2-3 times a year, she comes in for another treatment.

While this is a common issue for young women, I see a lot of older women dealing with it as well. They’ve usually just lived with it for years, and end up coming to see me because they’re having a hard time getting pregnant. This is because the imbalances that are causing the pain (whether it be hormones, cysts, endometriosis, or something else) are now causing infertility too. In these cases, women get double benefit from acupuncture treatment; less pain as well as getting pregnant!

The official medical term for painful periods is dysmenorrhea. And just in case you don’t want to take my word for it, I’ve rounded up a few research studies that show the benefit of acupuncture for dysmenorrhea. Just click on the title of each to take you to the study itself.

A Randomized Controlled Study on Dysmenorrhea and Secondary Symptoms

A single, randomized controlled study (RCT) in 2018 found acupuncture use significantly reduced period related pain, diarrhea, fatigue, mood disturbances and headache. The study included 60 women from the ages of 17-23 who regularly experienced dysmenorrhea with no underlying cause. The women were enrolled in a college, and therefore had similar schedules, stressors and diet. Half the women were randomly placed in a control group and received no treatment. The other half received manual acupuncture (MA) 15 times a month for 90 days, for a total of 45 sessions. 

The visual analog scale (VAS) was used to rate pain levels on a scale of 1-10. Measurements were taken before treatment, on Day 30 of the trial, on Day 60, and after the trial on Day 90. The VAS scores in the control group were 7.12 +/- 1.44 before the study, and 7.17 +/- 1 on Day 90. The VAS scores for the study group before the trial were 7.29 +/- 1.22, and on Day 90 they were 2.53 +/- 1.78. This shows a significant decrease in pain levels after the treatment.

Systematic Review Looks at Manual Acupuncture, Electro-Acupuncture and Moxibustion

Also in 2018, a systematic review and meta-analysis was done on this topic. The review looked at 60 RCTs and the meta-analysis included 49 RCTs. These numbers were whittled down from 3962 studies found on the topic in English, Chinese and Korean. It included trials that were done with manual acupuncture (MA – just regular acupuncture), electroacupuncture (EA – where the pins are hooked up to a machine to stimulate them), and warm acupuncture (WA – also known as moxibustion, a heat therapy). The control groups ranged from receiving no treatment, receiving a placebo treatment, or being treated with NSAIDs or birth control. 

The studies used similar measurement scales to rate pain levels on a scale of 1-10. They found that MA and EA were more effective at treating primary dysmenorrhea than no treatment (SMD = -1.59, 95% CI [-2.12, -1.06]), and MA (SMD = -0.63, 95% CI [-0.88, -0.37]) and WA (SMD = -1.12, 95% CI [-1.81, -0.43]) was more effective than NSAIDs at relieving menstrual pain.

Acupuncture Treats Endometriosis

 Primary dysmenorrhea is period pain with no underlying cause. However, in many cases of dysmenorrhea, endometriosis ends up being the root cause for the pain. In this meta-analysis and systematic review, researchers scoured 6 databases, finding 112 studies on the topic. They whittled it down to the best 10 studies to include in their analysis. 

The women chosen for these studies had all been diagnosed with endometriosis through a laparoscopic surgery. These studies also used a pain scale of 1-10 to rate pain before, during and after the trials. In addition, the also measured a blood marker called CA-125, that is higher in women with endometriosis.

They found that acupuncture had a positive effect on peripheral blood CA-125 levels, as compared with the control groups (MD = 5.9, 95% CI = 1.56–10.25, P = 0.008). Similarly, the effect of acupuncture on clinical effective rate was positive, as compared with the control groups (odds ratio = 2.07; 95% CI = 1.24–3.44, P = 0.005).

As you can see, the research has found that acupuncture can be quite effective in decreasing period pain, in some cases more effective than medications. If you’d like to try it out for yourself, and you live in the Greenville area, I’d be happy to help you out.

Author:
Elizabeth Williams, LAc is an acupuncturist and herbalist in Greenville, South Carolina, specializing in pain management, women’s health, and psycho-emotional issues. She’s passionate about helping people feel their best and sharing her wealth of knowledge with the community. Elizabeth is the owner of Dragonfly Acupuncture & Massage on Wade Hampton Boulevard. Appointments can be made by calling 864-451-4313 or scheduled online.