Before I first treated someone with Meniere’s disease, I think even I had that idea in the back of my mind that vertigo is just about feeling uneasy with heights! One discussion with one Meniere’s patient promptly set me straight on that. Vertigo symptoms can be horrible, and tinnitus too is something that I now know can really drive you nuts. Throw in hearing loss, feelings of pressure in the ear, and lots of unpredictability to the whole thing, and it’s not a nice package to be living with.
Can acupuncture help?
Our own clinical experiences as acupuncturists come under the heading of anecdotal evidence, which is not the kind of thing we’re allowed to shout from the rooftops. I was pleased then, to see this recent study, which took one of the strongest research approaches to this topic – a systematic review and meta-analysis. So, they did a study of all the available individual studies, and did some re-examination of the data.
And the results were encouraging:
“Acupuncture may improve the symptoms of vertigo, tinnitus, ear fullness and hearing loss in patients with MD. However, due to the lack of literature included in this study and methodological weaknesses like randomization, blinding, and clinical heterogeneity, more well-designed long-term follow-up RCTs are needed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of acupuncture.”
Conclusion of ‘Efficacy and safety of acupuncture in the treatment of Meniere’s disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis’, 2024
And for me, it’s always a good sign when a study mentions which acupuncture points were used, and that they make sense within the framework of traditional Chinese medicine:
“A summary of the acupuncture protocols included in the study revealed that the most common acupoints were Baihui (GV20), Fengchi (GB20), Tinggong (SI19), Hegu (LI4), Quchi (LI11), Zusanli (ST36), Fenglong (ST40), Taichong (LR3), and Taixi (KI3).”
Try acupuncture for your Meniere’s disease
If you’d like to see whether acupuncture may be able to help your Meniere’s disease, just get in touch.
References
Mingjie Tang et al, Efficacy and safety of acupuncture in the treatment of Meniere’s disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis, Frontiers in Medicine (2024). DOI: 10.3389/fmed.2024.1463821
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay