Acupuncture and bronchial asthma.

Seventeen patients with stable bronchial asthma were randomly assigned to receive either correct acupuncture or placebo acupuncture. The study lasted 11 weeks and consisted of a pre-therapy, therapy, and post-therapy period. The patients received 10 treatments during a 5-week period. The effect of therapy on pulmonary function was assessed daily by the patients at home. Morning and evening peak expiratory flow rate, number of puffs beta 2-agonist aerosol needed, as well as subjective symptoms of asthma were recorded in a diary. The correctly treated group improved significantly throughout the study. Also, compared with the placebo group, a significant improvement was found in all assessed parameters 2 weeks after beginning therapy. Hereafter, no differences could be shown.