SINGAPORE — Ask 38-year-old acupuncturist Adele Lau about her most memorable memory from her job, and she’ll likely tell you it’s the high-pitched, agonizing screams of terminally ill patients echoing through the ward.
No, it’s not from being pricked with acupuncture needles.
Three years ago, a senior acupuncturist from the Sengkang General Hospital (SKH) anaesthesia department was asked to help treat a patient.
Severe damage to his intestines left the bedridden man in constant excruciating pain, which continued despite him taking painkillers, Lau said, without disclosing what his patient’s illness was.
“He was screaming in pain the whole time, he couldn’t sleep at all because it was so much pain. We could hear it from the ward corridor,” she recalled.
In this patient’s case, acupuncture, primarily around the abdominal area, provided temporary pain relief for a few hours.
Acupuncture is a type of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) treatment that involves inserting thin needles, often to stimulate specific points on the body.
In some cases, other techniques such as applying pressure or heat to specific points on the body may be used.
“Although acupuncture could not completely cure the patient’s symptoms, it could provide some relief for about three hours,” Lau said.
That brief respite meant everything to the patient who was suffering from unrelenting pain. He could finally sleep and rest for a while.
“When I removed the needles and asked the patient how she felt, she remained calm and simply said, ‘Thank you very much,’ in a weak voice,” Lau recalled.
“It was all I could do but I’m glad it gave him some comfort for a few hours.”
As acupuncture services become increasingly common in public health facilities, practitioners like Lau are proving that this ancient therapy can complement conventional medicine as a pain management tool.
Several public hospitals in Singapore now offer acupuncture services in addition to mainstream medical care.
Apart from SKH, there are Changi General Hospital, Khoo Teck Puat Hospital, Singapore General Hospital and Tan Tock Seng Hospital.
The Ministry of Health (MOH) had not responded to TODAY’s queries about the number of registered acupuncturists at the time of going to press.
Acupuncture as a pain management tool
At SKH, acupuncture is typically used as an adjunct to the medical care patients receive.
The service is part of the Pain Management Centre at SKH, which falls under the Department of Anaesthesiology.
Lau works with a multidisciplinary team to care for patients, most of whom are referred by specialists at the hospital after they have undergone necessary tests and interventions.
Before referring a patient to the acupuncture team, the treating physician would also have made sure their pain medication was optimized, she said.
Most of Lau’s patients suffer from chronic pain due to degenerative diseases or are undergoing rehabilitation after a stroke.
Occasionally, she sees patients in acute pain in the emergency department.
She noted that symptoms such as neck pain and back pain appear to be more common now due to reduced activity levels due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Since the ‘Circuit Breaker’ period (the semi-lockdown period in early 2020), several patients have been living more sedentary lives, which has caused them to feel pain, and they are still suffering from these symptoms.
“Some patients find that it affects their ability to work, and they are unable to maintain a desk position for more than 15 minutes without feeling pain.
“Some people find it difficult to take part in family outings because they can’t stand or walk for long periods of time.”
How acupuncture works
For patients with chronic pain, acupuncture may reduce pain to a more manageable level and allow them to be more proactive in their physical therapy, Lau said.
“Acupuncture can also reduce stiffness. If movement is restricted because of pain, TCM interprets this as an energy blockage,” she adds.
In TCM, acupuncture is based on the concept that there are pathways, or meridians, in the body through which chi, or energy, flows.
Lau explained the concept of “chi” using the example of traffic on a highway, saying: “In an ideal scenario, there would be no traffic jams and everything would flow smoothly.
“In Chinese medicine, a state of balance is called ‘health.’
“But if the signals aren’t working properly or there’s an accident, it can cause congestion.
“Similarly, various factors can block the flow of energy through the meridians, causing illness and pain. In TCM, we aim to remove stagnation of qi.”
Lau joked that acupuncture needles are like “traffic cops”: “They are dispatched at strategic places[along the meridians]to redirect the flow of traffic so that everything flows more smoothly.”
That being said, everyone responds differently to acupuncture.
Some people experience immediate improvement after treatment, while others don’t respond at all.
If your symptoms are more complex, you may need more treatment sessions before you see noticeable results.
