There have been several studies that confirm the efficacy of acupuncture and herbal medicine for allergic rhinitis.
One such study recently published in the American Journal of Epidemiology showed that acupuncture can significantly relieve allergic rhinitis symptoms.
In the study, 5,237 men and women were analyzed to evaluate the effectiveness of acupuncture in addition to routine care in patients with allergic rhinitis compared with treatment with routine care alone.
In this trial, patients with allergic rhinitis were randomly allocated to receive acupuncture for a 3 month period or to a control group that received no acupuncture. All patients were allowed to receive usual medical care.
Improvements were noted at the 3 month and the 6 month evaluation for the patients receiving acupuncture. The authors of this trial concluded that treating patients with allergic rhinitis in routine care with additional acupuncture leads to clinically relevant and persistent benefits.
Another study that was published in Allergy: European Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology found that hay fever sufferers who received weekly acupuncture treatments and took three daily doses of medical herbal tea showed fewer symptoms and were less likely to say their hay fever was infringing on their daily activities than people who received placebo treatment. After six weeks it was found that 85 percent of patients showed overall improvements in their hay fever, compared with only 40 percent of the placebo group.
Sources:
Allergy: European Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. September, 2004
American Journal of Epidemiology. November, 2008
