Acupuncture And Chinese Medicine Treatment Of Dysmenorrhea Law Literature

Dysmenorrhoea is a condition characterized by the presence of pain during menstruation. Women usually experience gradual pain at lower abdomen and/or lower back which may radiate to vagina,rectum or upper abdomen.Other symptoms such as nausea,vomiting, diarrhoea,polyuria,headache,cold extremities,sweating,fatigue and fainting also can be associated with women experiencing dysmenorrhoea.These symptoms usually begin several hours before the start of menstruation and may continue for a few days.Dysmenorrhoea is one of the most common conditions seen in women.According to a national statistic in China,dysmenorrhoea occurs in 42%of women and,of these,18% experiences severe pain which affects their daily activities,thus compromises quality of life. Therefore,therapeutic methods with an effective relief of pain and effective treatments of underlying cause have been the focus of clinicians and researchers.The literature published in last two decades suggested that Chinese herbal medicine and acupuncture and moxibusion had distinctive achievements in the treatment of dysmenorrhoea.According to existing literature,acupuncture and moxibusion had shown unique benefit by providing immediate relief of pain and preventing future pain onset,whilst Chinese herbal medicine aimed at treating the underlying cause using syndrome differentiation principle,resulting in improvement of the condition.This thesis was divided into three parts.The initial part comprised of a review of ancient literature on dysmenorrhoea.The anatomy of women reproductive system and the pathophysiology of dysmenorrhoea were explained using the Chinese traditional medicine theory.The application of acupuncture and moxibusion and Chinese herbal medicine in the treatment of dysmenorrhoea in the ancient literature also identified and discussed.The second part of this thesis focused on the literature review on dysmenorrhoea of articles published in the past 20 years.As well as identifying the method of syndrome differentiation used in the past 20 years,this part provided extensive review on different treatment approaches comprising acupuncture,Chinese herbal medicine and the combination of both.Further,other possible therapies used in the treatment of dysmenorrhoea such as ear acupressure,plaster technique on acupoint and acupoint injection also were mentioned.Lastly,various aspects of acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine approaches in the treatment of dysmenorrhoea were evaluated including their characteristic and pattern,the therapeutic timing for the application of therapies and the associated modification of lifestyle. Further,the prospect of research in the area of dysmenorrhoea was discussed...