Acupuncture for treating Sleep disturbance associated tinnitus

3^rd International Conference and Exhibition on Traditional & Alternative Medicine

August 03-05, 2015 Birmingham, UK

Chun-En Kuo

Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital and Chang Gung University, Taiwan

Scientific Tracks Abstracts: Altern Integr Med

Abstract :

Objective: We sought to investigate the effect of acupuncture treatment on tinnitus. Design: Retrospectively observational analysis of clinical practice. Setting: Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan. Subjects: Patients who reported tinnitus as their primary complaint at their first visit within a 27-month consecutive period (March 2010 to June 2012) were recruited into the study. The number of cases during the study period determined the sample size. Thirtynine patients met the eligibility criteria. Ten consecutive patients were collected from otolaryngology department for control. Total forty-nine patients enrolled for the study. Interventions: Patients received acupuncture treatment by using single unilateral acupoint Ting-gong (SI19). Outcome Measures: Questionnaires including the tinnitus handicap inventory (THI) and tinnitus severity index (TSI) were recorded, those applied before and after the acupuncture treatment for recognizing the patients situation practically. Any use of remedies and Chinese herbal medicines was recorded. Results: The reduction of THI score was statistically significant from the baseline to the end of the treatment. The observed reduction score was more consistent between women aged 41 to 60 years. Acupuncture treatment seemed to improve the sleep quality of patients. No adverse reactions or complications were encountered resulting from the acupuncture procedure but sourness complaints occasionally. Conclusions: We observed that acupuncture therapy might improve the general well-being and relieve sleep disturbance associated tinnitus. No subjective hearing acuity improvement was observed in laboratory data, possibly due to small sample size. We suggest that further studies to explore the efficacy of acupuncture therapy in relieving of sleep disturbance associated tinnitus to be merited.

Biography :

Chun-En is a Medical Doctor of Chinese Medicine, Resident of Acupuncture Department at Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taiwan. She is trained as a Medical Doctor at Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital with experience acupuncture and a passion for CAM studies. Since 2011, she has worked as a CAM resident with a major in acupuncture. She has been a member of Chinese Medical Association of Acupuncture (CMAA) since 2014, and she obtained the documentation of subspecialty in Chinese Dermatology. Her research topics focus on CAM in treating chronic tinnitus, modern medical devices for meridian analysis such as Ryodoraku, and the epidemiologic characteristics of CAM nursing in Taiwan. Her recent research interest is the connection of metabonomics with CAM syndrome differentiation and treatment.

Email: lecherries@gmail.com