Men’s Health: Acupuncture and Prostate Health

Did you know that acupuncture can help improve prostate health? Almost 19,000 Canadians are diagnosed with prostate cancer every year and 12 Canadian men die of it every day. Even though the statistics look bleak, prostate cancer is one of the most treatable types of cancer when caught in its early stage. For this reason, it is vitally important for men over the age of 40 to see their doctor for an annual physical.

It is not uncommon for the prostate to become enlarged in men over 50 years of age. Due to its location, enlargement of the prostate can exert pressure on the urethra causing difficulty in urination. An enlarged prostate can eventually lead to benign prostatic hypertrophy (BPH) causing symptoms such as:

• Difficulty starting urination
• Frequent urination especially at night
• Inability to urinate or weak urinary stream and dribbling
• Urge to urinate even immediately after urinating

The prostate can also become inflamed due to a bacterial or non-bacterial infection causing prostatitis. It is one of the most common urological disorder and accounts for 25% of all visits to the urologist in men over 50. Prostatitis is divided into 4 major types, namely: acute and chronic bactieral prostatitis, non-bacterial prostatitis and prostatodynia. The most common type is non-bacterial prostatitis but is the least understood.

Symptoms of prostatitis include:

• Fever and chills
• Pain the lower back, genital area or rectum
• Burning pain during urination
• Urgency and frequent urination

Enlarged prostate (BPH) and prostatitis can usually be treated with medications. Symptoms may also diminish on their own over time. While surgery may be necessary in certain situations, acupuncture can provide substantial relief of several symptoms related to these conditions. Recent studies by R. Chen and J.C. Nickel at the Trillium Medical Centre (Mississauga, Ontario) have shown that acupuncture is effective in reducing pain, improving urinary function and quality of life in men suffering from chronic prostatitis. Acupuncture seems to be effective in alleviating and treating prostatitis and BPH by increasing blood flow and energy flow to the prostate to remove stagnation and pressure.

Acupuncture and Chinese medicine approaches the condition from a holistic perspective by not only addressing the disease, but the person suffering from the condition as well. This means that many other areas of the person’s health affected by or contributing to the condition can be addressed by your acupuncturist. Therefore patients will feel improvement in their symptoms and also an overall improvement in the quality of their life.