Complementary therapies in medicine
-
Complement Ther Med · Jun 2015
Randomized Controlled TrialWrist acupressure for post-operative nausea and vomiting (WrAP): A pilot study.
Post-operative nausea and vomiting are undesirable complications following anaesthesia and surgery. It is thought that acupressure might prevent nausea and vomiting through an alteration in endorphins and serotonin levels. In this two-group, parallel, superiority, randomised control pilot trial we aimed to test pre-defined feasibility outcomes and provide preliminary evidence for the efficacy of PC 6 acupoint stimulation vs. placebo for reducing post-operative nausea and vomiting in cardiac surgery patients. ⋯ The main outcome was assessment of pre-defined feasibility criteria with secondary outcomes for nausea, vomiting, rescue anti-emetic therapy, quality of recovery and adverse events. Findings suggest that a large placebo-controlled randomised controlled trial to test the efficacy of PC 6 stimulation on PONV in the post-cardiac surgery population is feasible and justified given the preliminary clinically significant reduction in vomiting in the intervention group in this pilot. The intervention was tolerated well by participants and if wrist acupressure of PC 6 acupoint is proven effective in a large trial it is a simple non-invasive intervention that could easily be incorporated into practice.
-
Complement Ther Med · Jun 2015
Randomized Controlled TrialHypertonic dextrose injection (prolotherapy) for knee osteoarthritis: Long term outcomes.
Knee osteoarthritis (OA) is a common, debilitating chronic disease. Prolotherapy is an injection therapy for chronic musculoskeletal pain. Recent 52-week randomized controlled and open label studies have reported improvement of knee OA-specific outcomes compared to baseline status, and blinded saline control injections and at-home exercise therapy (p<0.05). However, long term effects of prolotherapy for knee OA are unknown. We therefore assessed long-term effects of prolotherapy on knee pain, function and stiffness among adults with knee OA. ⋯ Prolotherapy resulted in safe, significant, progressive improvement of knee pain, function and stiffness scores among most participants through a mean follow-up of 2.5 years and may be an appropriate therapy for patients with knee OA refractory to other conservative care.
-
Complement Ther Med · Jun 2015
Randomized Controlled TrialEffects of inhaled ginger aromatherapy on chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting and health-related quality of life in women with breast cancer.
To assess the efficacy of inhaled ginger aromatherapy on nausea, vomiting and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in chemotherapy breast cancer patients. ⋯ At present time, the evidence derived from this study is not sufficiently convincing that inhaled ginger aromatherapy is an effective complementary therapy for CINV. The findings for HRQoL were however encouraging with significant improvement in several domains.