Alternative therapies in health and medicine
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Altern Ther Health Med · Jan 2014
Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical TrialAn innovative acupuncture treatment for primary dysmenorrhea: a randomized, crossover pilot study.
Dysmenorrhea, the occurrence of painful menstrual cramping of the uterus, is a major cause of activity restriction and absences from school and work among young women. Standard pharmaceuticals used to treat dysmenorrhea are not effective for all women and have side effects that limit their use. Studies elsewhere have shown beneficial effects for use of vitamin K1 as an acupoint treatment, but the acceptability of this treatment to women in the United States has been unknown. ⋯ Findings suggested high acceptability for an acupuncture point injection of vitamin K1 as treatment for primary dysmenorrhea among young women in San Francisco. Pain decreased with both treatments, with a trend toward greater pain reduction for the vitamin K1/SP-6 injection. This finding is consistent with outcomes from the Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital in Shanghai, China, where the protocol was developed.
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Altern Ther Health Med · Jan 2014
Attitudes toward and use of complementary and alternative medicine among Hispanic and white mothers.
Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) use has become more prevalent in the United States. Little is known, however, regarding the ethnic and language differences of mothers as related to their beliefs about and use of CAM. ⋯ After controlling for socioeconomic status, the research team found that SSH mothers used less CAM compared to ESH and ESW mothers. Employment of culturally specific measures of CAM use may be necessary to understand fully the differences in CAM use between Spanish- and English-speaking mothers as well as to understand the medical conditions that prompt CAM use.