Acupuncture for Rheumatoid Arthritis

Acupuncture is now considered a surefire treatment for Rheumatoid Arthritis not only in India, but also in other countries and doctors prefer to refer their patients to the Acupuncturist.

Osteoarthritis occurs at an older age but Rheumatoid Arthritis occurs in younger ages at twenty to forty five years. In this disease the affected parts are usually the joint but now a day it is considered “Miscencymal Connective tissue” disease. Its effects can be seen on the bones of the skull, muscles, tendons, fascia, cynovial, bursae, lungs, plura, heart and pericardium. Sometimes spleen and eyes are also affected. This disease affects women more than men in the ratio of 5:1.

The onset of the disease can be acute, subacute and chronic.
Before the symptoms of Arthritis manifest themselves, several other signs can be seen in the patient. For months, the patient may complain of nausea, fatigue, anorexia, transient muscle & joint pains and weight loss. The reason for all these symptoms is later found to be Rheumatoid Arthritis.

The onset of joint pain occurs in various styles. Sometimes the pain starts from the interphalangeal joints of the second and third finger and spreads to other interphalangeal and meta-carpophalangeal joints. Mostly the onset is simultaneous in both hands.

Sometimes the pain starts from the toes of the feet. Initially the disease remains confined to the fingers and toes of the limbs, but as the disease progresses, wrists, tarsal joints, ankles, knees or elbows also get involved, followed by shoulders and lastly the hip joints are affected

During the active stage of the disease, stiffness of joint is observed especially after getting up from sleep. Gradually pain starts followed by swelling. The joints are tender and the skin is warmer than the surrounding areas.

Gradually the movement becomes limited, oedema occurs due to synovitis and periarthritis. Thick fluid accumulates in the joint cavity. Deformity starts developing due to the weakness of periarticular tissue and the most commenly observed deformity is the ulnar deviation of the fingers. The muscles above and below the affected joint show considerable atrophied due to disuse.

The patient is unable to sleep due to pain. Depression may also occur. After a long period of acute stage, the acute stage dies out, but recurrences can occur, months or years later. Some times the lungs and heart are also affected.

In the chronic stage, the joints affected during the acute stage shows limitation of movement, for example the knee cannot be fully extended or fully flexed. The fingers of the hand show ulnar deviation. The feet seem to become flat and the toes are extended near the metatarsophalangeal joints. Due to this the head of the metatarsal bone forms a ball on the sole of the feet, which can cause corns.

In advanced stage, contractures of the tendons and joints capsules, secondary osteoarthritis, or a fibrous or bony ankylosis are frequently seen.
Initially x-rays don’t show any change in the joints. Later, osteoporosis and shortening of space between the bones can be seen.

Out of various treatments, Acupuncture is the most effective treatment of Rheumatoid arthritis.

The patient is first examined to find out which joints are most painful and acupuncture is given accordingly. For example if the pain is most severe in the fingers, wrist and the elbow joints, then the needles are inserted at the specific points of these parts. Similarly for the pain in knee or ankles, those points are chosen.

Treatment can be done in sitting posture in these cases, whereas if the thigh, hip, lumbar or carvical region is affected treatment is given in lying position. If the patient is very weak, then specific points in the chest and hands are also stimulated.

After pricking the needles at the specific points, wires of stimulator are joined with. Now these points are stimulated with the help of electrostimulator. This type of treatment can be given for 1 to 2 hours or more continuously.

After the time is over the electrostimulator is switched off and wires are taken out. Then the needles are taken out. Before pricking the needles and after taking them out, spirit is applied to the particular part.

Such treatment can be given one to two or three times per day. Usually within 10 hours treatment patient can feel relief in pain and swelling.
If the disease is in an acute stage, and patient has fever and high E.S.R. in blood examination alongwith swelling of the joints, the fever becomes normal, E.S.R. returns to normal and swelling and pain reduces if acupuncture treatment is given.

Quicker results are obtained if treatment is commenced at acute stage compared to the chronic stage. If the patient is presented with some deformity in the chronic stage, improvement can be seen with treatment.

There is no side effect of Acupuncture. The patient does not have to follow too many does and don’t also. If the patient is taking allopathic drugs, the drugs are withdrawn gradually to prevent any adverse effects. Therefore, it is not unusual, that acupuncture is fast gaining repute as a treatment of choice for Rheumatoid Arthritis all over the world.