It’s amazing how many people who have a problem with addiction to painkillers start taking the drugs again after they’ve gone through addiction treatment. However, a new study on Acupuncture shows it could help prevent relapse, and even make withdrawal a little easier.

Being addicted to drugs used to be considered a somewhat shameful thing. But, these days, with so many people in chronic pain (nearly ¼ of the U.S. population), and with powerful addictive drugs being the ‘treatment’ offered by so many doctors, addiction has become rampant..

This trend has resulted in an epidemic of prescription painkiller addiction affecting doctors, lawyers, accountants, housewives, laborers – no profession or walk of life is exempt.

It comes as a surprise to most people to learn that the acetaminophen in their opioid painkiller could be more dangerous to them than the potentially deadly codeine, oxycodone and hydrocodone in those pills.

Getting off these drugs is very difficult; people need all the help they can get.

The new study, conducted at Harvard Medical School and McLean Hospital, involved 48 patients, aged 18 through 59. Each was addicted to opioids (an opium-derived painkiller), and each sought treatment in an in-patient drug rehab facility.

Half of the group received transcutaneous electric acupoint stimulation (TEAS), a form of Acupuncture that uses skin electrodes to apply electrical stimulation at specific points on the body; the other half were treated with simulated TEAS – not the real thing.

Two weeks after the patients completed the treatment program, 65 percent of those who had not received the real Acupuncture treatments were back on the painkillers. Of those who did receive the Acupuncture treatment, only 29 percent had reverted.

This may not seem particularly impressive – one would hope that everyone who went through drug treatment would be able to stay off them. But, in fact, some treatment methods fail 95 percent of the time. So, this is a significant improvement.

Further, those who received the Acupuncture treatment were more than twice less likely as the other group to have taken any drug after their treatment.

Patients who received the Acupuncture also experienced less pain and were generally in better health than those who received the simulated treatment.

These remarkable results were attained with very little Acupuncture treatment – only three 30-minute sessions a day for up to four days! The researchers recommend additional studies on larger groups who receive more treatment. However, there’s no need to wait for more studies: If you know someone who is having a problem with prescription painkillers, you might encourage them to add Acupuncture to their drug rehab protocol.

Source: National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, http://nccam.nih.gov/research/results/spotlight/010410.htm