People who suffer long-term pain are desperate for any remedy and often turn to alternative and complementary treatments.
The best experts in Europe looked at some alternative treatments for pain at the recent EFIC Pain Congress in Hamburg.
They warned that there was contradictory evidence for many of these methods but new evidence was presented for the effectiveness of acupuncture, acupressure and aromatherapy.
Acupuncture works against acute pain, such as pain suffered after surgery.
They also looked at the use of acupressure in chronic neck pain. Acupuncture points can be activated not only by needles, but also by finger pressure (acupressure).
The treatment of points in a painful area has an additional positive influence on the autonomic nervous system: it lowers the heart rate and increases heart-rate variability, both indicators of the response to external conditions.
The other treatment highlighted was eucalyptus or lavender and their effects on pain and inflammation. Certain essential aromatic oils can relieve pain and inflammation.
Korean scientists in Hamburg presented a study on the effects in mice of oils from rosemary, marjoram (oregano), lavender, eucalyptus and basil.
Eucalyptus and lavender turned out to be the strongest painkillers depending on the kind of irritation involved.
Eucalyptus showed an even stronger analgesic effect than an adequate dose of morphine.
Originally published in
