Prostate issues are a very common complaint for men. The prostate is a gland in the body that sits where the urethra starts. The urethra is a thin tube that carries urine out of the body. The prostate has a tendency to become inflamed as men get older and cause multiple issues from cancer to many urinary conditions. Examples of inflammatory prostate conditions include Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia or BPH, chronic prostatitis.
How Does Western Medicine Treat Issues with the Prostate?
Western medicine treats prostate issues by using pharmaceuticals such as alpha blockers and 5- alpha reductase inhibitors that help relax muscle and to inhibit growth of the gland. Other common interventions include surgery, nerve ablation and or microwave induced therapies.
Acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine can be very effective on many inflammatory conditions. Modern research is backing these claims with strong empirical evidence.
A study was undertaken to determine if acupuncture can be an effective intervention to patients with chronic prostatitis in 2018. Acupuncture showed clinical and long-lasting benefits compared with sham acupuncture for chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome. (1)
Another condition that can be helped by acupuncture and TCM medicine is prostate cancer. According to Cancer.org, prostate cancer is the 2nd most prevalent cancer for men after skin cancer. 1 in 8 men will get prostate cancer at some point.
Acupuncture can be a powerful adjunctive therapy for those with prostate cancer. According to a meta-analysis of patients with prostate cancer and pain found that, enormous clinical literatures have indicated that TCM has positive effect on ameliorating pain and improve the quality of life in patients who suffer from advanced prostate cancer (2)
We welcome all families
What Do Acupuncture Treatments Look Like For Prostate Health?
At Integrative Acupuncture, we create individual and custom treatment plans using acupuncture. Needles would be placed at the top of feet, ankles, arms, hands, ear, abdomen or some combination of these spots. We would likely add in other therapies such as moxibustion, diet recommendations, cupping, and herbal medicine. Treatment plans are individualized for the person and have many factors affecting it but commonly can be as short as 6-8 visits. We also have a Naturopathic Doctor in house who can provide further counsel if necessary.
-
Qin Z, Zang Z, Zhou K, Wu J, Zhou J, Kwong JSW, Liu Z. Acupuncture for Chronic Prostatitis/Chronic Pelvic Pain Syndrome: A Randomized, Sham Acupuncture Controlled Trial. J Urol. 2018 Oct;200(4):815-822. doi: 10.1016/j.juro.2018.05.001. Epub 2018 May 5. PMID: 29733836. Wang, Ning MMa; Xu, Li MMa;
-
Wang, Ji-Sheng MDb,c; Yu, Xu-Dong MMb,c; Chu, Li-Yuan MMb,d; Deng, Sheng MMb,c; Ge, Fu-Xing MMb,e; Li, Hai-Song MDc,∗ Traditional Chinese medicine on treating pain caused by prostate cancer, Medicine: November 2019 – Volume 98 – Issue 44 – p e17624 doi: 10.1097/MD.0000000000017624
