Acupuncture for Urinary Tract Infections

Urinary tract infections, or UTIs, are common in adult women with as many as 6% having 3 or more episodes per year. Acupuncture has been proven to be an effective treatment for UTIs.

Here are 2 Norwegian studies that have well documented the effectiveness of treating UTIs with acupuncture:

Sixty-seven adult women with a history of recurrent lower UTI were 85% free of lower UTI during a 6-month observation period in the acupuncture group, compared with 36% in the control group. There were half as many episodes of lower UTI per person in the acupuncture group and a third as many as in the control group.

Audun Aune, Terje Alraek, Huo Lihua, Anders Baerheim. Acupuncture in the prophylaxis of recurrent lower urinary tract infection in adult women. Scandinavian Journal of Primary Health Care, Vol. 16, Iss. 1, 1998.

73% of women in the acupuncture group were free of UTIs during the 6-month observation period, as compared with 52% of women in the control group… During the observation period, half as many UTI episodes per person-month occurred in the acupuncture group as in the control group… 

Terje Alraek, Liv Inger Fosli Soedal, Siri Urnes Fagerheim, Asbjørn Digranes, and Anders Baerheim.  Acupuncture Treatment in the Prevention of Uncomplicated Recurrent Lower Urinary Tract Infections in Adult Women. American Journal of Public Health: October 2002, Vol. 92, No. 10, pp. 1609-1611.

Jeffrey Russell, MS, DOM, practices Chinese Medicine and acupuncture in Louisville, KY. You can reach him at his clinic, Abacus Chinese Medicine, 502 299-8900.