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Sunday, May 22, 2016

Acupuncture can help head and neck cancer patients' pain, dry mouth, lymphedema, neuropathy, tirednes, and nausea

Acupuncture can help head and neck cancer with managing some physical and emotional problems such as pain, feeling sick, and anxiety. It can also help individuals relax and improve their overall feeling of wellbeing.

Acupuncture is helpful in relieving some symptoms of cancer and the side effects of cancer treatment. It has sown to work in relieving chemotherapy related sickness, tiredness and cancer related pain.

Needling a variety of trigger and painful points, percutaneous electrical nerve stimulation, and osteo-puncture, along with whole body energetic acupuncture support, are approaches available to the acupuncturists.

Acupuncture is used to treat a wide range of pain conditions and some other symptoms. Some of the condition that acupuncture can be helpful that relate to head and neck cancer include:

  • Acute and chronic pain control
  • Dry mouth after radiation
  • Muscle spasms, tremors, tics, contractures
  • Peripheral neuropathy (after chemotherapy)
  • Lymphedema after radiation (preliminary studies only)
  • Anxiety, fright, panic
  • Cancer and chemotherapy related tiredness
  • Certain functional gastro-intestinal disorders (nausea and vomiting, esophageal spasm, hyperacidity, etc.)
  • Headache, migraine, vertigo, tinnitus
  • Cervical and lumbar spine syndromes and frozen shoulder
  • Insomnia
  • Anorexia
  • Constipation  


Acupuncture performed by professionally qualified practitioners is generally very safe and has few side effects. Read more at Medical  issues in head and neck cancer section.