A new study led by the researchers at the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center, suggested that Acupuncture could be an effective therapy for joint pain and stiffness in breast cancer patients who are being treated with commonly used hormonal therapies.

The study included randomly assigned 43 women, who received either true acupuncture or sham acupuncture twice a week for six weeks.

The study, published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, discovered that the women treated with acupuncture revealed improving overall physical well-being and the 20 percent also taking pain medications experienced no longer requirement for them.

However, no such improvements were reported by controls. Joint pain and stiffness are reported as the common side effects of aromatase inhibitor therapy, in which the synthesis of estrogen is blocked.

"Since aromatase inhibitors have become an increasingly popular treatment option for some breast cancer patients, we aimed to find a non-drug option to manage the joint issues they often create, thereby improving quality of life and reducing the likelihood that patients would discontinue this potentially life-saving treatment", said Dr. Dawn Hershman, senior author of the paper.