The impact of acupuncture and craniosacral therapy interventions on clinical outcomes in adults with asthma.
OBJECTIVE
Synergy has been proposed between modalities operating at different levels of action. Acupuncture and craniosacral therapy are two very different modalities for which synergy has been proposed. This study sought to test for such synergy and to determine if complementary therapies would improve pulmonary function and quality of life for people suffering from asthma, as well as reducing anxiety, depression, and medication usage.


METHODS
Subjects were randomly assignment to one of five groups: acupuncture, craniosacral therapy, acupuncture and craniosacral, attention control, and waiting list control.


METHODS
Subjects received 12 sessions of equal length with pretreatment and posttreatment assessment of pulmonary function, asthma quality of life, depression, and anxiety. Medication use was also assessed.


RESULTS
Synergy was not demonstrated. When treatment was compared with the control group, statistically treatment was significantly better than the control group in improving asthma quality of life, whereas reducing medication use with pulmonary function test results remained the same. However, the combination of acupuncture and craniosacral treatment was not superior to each therapy alone. In fact, although all active patients received 12 treatment sessions, those who received all treatments from one practitioner had statistically significant reductions in anxiety when compared with those receiving the same number of treatments from multiple practitioners. No effects on depression were found.


CONCLUSIONS
Acupuncture and/or craniosacral therapy are potentially useful adjuncts to the conventional care of adults with asthma, but the combination of the two does not provide additional benefit over each therapy alone.
Mehl-Madrona
Lewis
L
Department of Family Medicine, University of Saskatchewan College of Medicine, Saskatoon, SK, Canada. lewis.mehl-madrona@usask.ca
Kligler
Benjamin
B
Silverman
Shoshana
S
Lynton
Holly
H
Merrell
Woodson
W
D015670:Acupuncture Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001007:Anxiety / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control; D001249:Asthma / Q000150:complications / Q000628:therapy*; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D000529:Complementary Therapies / Q000379:methods; D003393:Cranial Sutures; D003863:Depression / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007427:Intracranial Pressure; D008297:Male; D008405:Massage / Q000379:methods; D008875:Middle Aged; D026201:Musculoskeletal Manipulations / Q000379:methods*; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D011788:Quality of Life; D016896:Treatment Outcome