This 2011 chronic rhinitis acupuncture study examined whether acupuncture was an effective treatment for chronic sinus congestion.
What Is Rhinitis?
Rhinitis is nasal congestion and post-nasal drip most often brought on by irritation and inflammation of nasal tissue. In Western medicine, rhinitis is caused by a viral or bacterial infection (or another antigen such as pollen) that triggers mucus discharge. Left untreated, chronic rhinitis can last for years. Rhinitis symptoms include epistaxis (nose bleeding), thick yellow or white phlegm in the sinuses and throat, coughing, difficulty sleeping, unclear thinking, loss of smell, labored breathing, and asthma.
From a Chinese medicine perspective, chronic rhinitis is caused by wind-cold or wind-heat obstructing the lung Qi. While the triggers in Western and Chinese medicine have different names, there is a great deal of overlap because wind-cold and wind-heat typically involve microbial infections or allergy-triggered antigen responses.
Chronic Rhinitis Acupuncture Study
This chronic rhinitis acupuncture study examined 85 patients with chronic nasal congestion to determine if acupuncture could alleviate their symptoms and improve their condition. The study had an effective rate of 97 percent with 61 participants obtaining total recovery, 21 with marked improvement, and 3 with no effect. Total recovery required the resolution of all of a patient’s symptoms.
Participants received two courses of treatment – each course consisted of daily acupuncture for fifteen days. The 97 percent effective rate was achieved after two courses of treatment (30 acupuncture appointments) unless total recovery was achieved prior to completion of the second course of acupuncture treatment.
Acupuncture Treatment Protocol
Acupuncturists utilized the following three acupoints on every participant: GB20 (Fengchi), LI4 (Hegu), and St36 (Zusanli). Supplementary acupuncture points included BL12 (Fengmen), BL13 (Feishu), Yintang (Ex-HN 3), and Du14 (Dazhui). Practitioners included supplementary points based on each participant’s specific differential diagnosis and applied either tonification or reduction needle techniques based upon excess, deficient, heat, or cold diagnoses.
Analysis of the Study
The investigators asked the question, “What causes chronic rhinitis?” Chinese medicine believes that rhinitis sets in when the initial response to a pathogenic attack begins to linger as a residual pathogenic influence, never fully clearing from the body. Western medicine believes rhinitis develops as a pathogen lodges in the body, stimulating inflammatory chemicals and a cascade of symptoms including nasal congestion and discharge.
In Chinese medicine, chronic rhinitis usually begins as a Wei or Qi level attack. The lung Qi becomes compromised and the body develops a combination of excess and deficient patterns lodging in the Taiyin and Yangming acupuncture channels. This ideology is consistent with the modern medicine view that a microbial pathogen or other antigen is the cause of chronic rhinitis. An antigen is sufficient to cause chronic rhinitis, however, other factors may initiate the inflammatory response where antigens are absent.
In this sense, allopathic medicine measures some, but not all, of the factors contributing to chronic rhinitis. In Chinese medicine, the overall physiological strength of the lungs and the pathways leading to the nasal system are equally as important as the immunological responses to antigens. Furthermore, environmental conditions such as dryness, heat, dampness, and coldness are important factors. Moreover, dietary and emotional factors also play important roles in balancing the respiratory pathways.
Next Steps
If you or someone you love suffer from chronic rhinitis, try acupuncture. Treatments are safe – all needles are sterile, single-use, and hair-thin. And results are impressive – our results concur with the conclusions of this chronic rhinitis acupuncture study.
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Acupuncture Relieves Chronic Sinus Congestion
This chronic rhinitis acupuncture study concluded that acupuncture was an effective treatment for resolving sinus and nasal congestion, post-nasal drip, and mucus discharge.
Reference
An Hua, Qinhuangdao Port Hospital, Hebei, China. “Treatment of 85 Cases with Chronic Rhinitis by Acupuncture.” J. Acupunct. Tuina. Sci. 2010, 8 (5): 318.
What our Clients are Saying
Very nice doctor in this acupuncture office, and very skillful. She helped my constant dripping nose. It was like a faucet. Now it’s like a normal nose again. What a relief. I lived with this for five years. Now it’s better. I am so happy!!!
My doctors had given me the diagnosis non-allergic chronic rhinitis. No medications would help the constant runny and itchy nose and scratchy throat from post nasal drip. I had it year round and was driving me crazy. I read online that acupuncture could treat it, and went in cautiously optimistic. Very glad I did. The doctor at Raleigh Acupuncture knew exactly what to do to rid my body of this condition. Amazing! I recommend this practice for anyone who has chronic rhinitis.
Raleigh Acupuncture cured my chronic runny nose. I’m very grateful, as I was resigned to living with it forever. It was not a life or death situation, but definitely drained my energy and was very inconvenient. Been six months and still has not returned. Thank you!
Excellent Chinese medicine at Raleigh Acupuncture. I had treatment for chronic sinusitis with great success. My husband also got excellent results for his sinusitis. Highest standards of care. This is real Chinese medicine as practiced in Beijing.
I’ve struggled with sinus infections for my entire adult life, getting around two to three infections a year. In between episodes I would always have sinus congestion, a clogged nose and difficulty breathing, especially at night. I tried Raleigh Acupuncture and they completely changed my life. I came in with a particularly severe sinus infection that two rounds of antibiotics had not been able to clear. Within six sessions the infection was gone. I stayed on for another six treatments and now my chronic nasal congestion is gone as well. I’m thrilled with what they did and highly recommend their practice to anyone suffering from sinus problems.
The practitioners at Raleigh Acupuncture are miracle workers! In early December I went through the conventional methods of going to Kaiser when struggling through a terrible sinus infection. After eight weeks of nonstop coughing and sinus congestion and going through two separate antibiotics I started to give up hope. I remembered I visited Raleigh Acupuncture the year before when I had a similar experience and was feeling better after two treatments. I hopped online and found an opening for the following day. They were extremely accommodating around my work schedule, and even made arrangements so I could receive my final treatment on a Friday night. After three treatments I was finally back to normal. From now on I will always contact Raleigh Acupuncture whenever I start to feel under the weather rather than relying on doctors and antibiotics.