Allergic Rhinitis is an extremely common condition experienced all over the world. Many people seek out TCM to treat it, possibly because it’s quite effective at helping the body reduce the inflammatory response associated with the bothersome symptoms that allergic rhinitis brings.
How Allergic Rhinitis is treated
Acupuncture and Herbs seem to be the most common treatment modalities. There are many ways in which allergic rhinitis can be approached with the use of acupuncture and herbs and your doctor will determine the best way to treat you upon examination.
The Research Explained
Acupuncture and Allergic Rhinitis
In two different studies of acupuncture treatment for allergic rhinitis, acupuncture proved to be highly effective in relieving symptoms and delaying their return after treatment was finished. One study included the use of traditional acupuncture points on the legs (St36), hands (LI4), shoulders (GB20) and face (YinTang, LI20)1 . The second study included only one acupuncture point on each side of the face intended to stimulate a specific nerve bundle in charge of the body’s reaction to external stimulus. Both of these methods proved to bothincrease the effectiveness of treatment with pharmaceuticals as well as work to significantly reduce allergic response as a stand alone therapy2 .
Chinese herbal medicine and Allergic Rhinitis
In another study of an herbal-based treatment with pharmaceuticals proved to show positive benefits in the treatment of Allergic Rhinitis. A formula called Yu Ping Feng San was used, taken in powder form3. This is a popular formula that has been found to increase the bodies ability to build immune factors and at the same time lessen over-reactive inflammatory response in order to better deal with the allergens.
What to expect
These cases are used to give you an idea of what you might encounter when seeing a doctor fo Chinese medicine. He/ She is likely to use acupuncture, herbal formulas, or both in the treatment of your symptoms. It’s likely that they won’t use the exact treatment stated above. Due to the nature of Chinese medicine diagnosis, the practitioner will take your individual constitution into consideration and therefore your treatment will likely be slightly different than someone else’s.
- Yung, T. Y., Zhang, H., Tang, L. C., Zhang, L., Law, C. O., Tam, W. M., … Lin, Z. X. (2019, November 8). Acupuncture and herbal moxibustion for the treatment of ‘BiQiu’ (allergic rhinitis symptoms) in a Hong Kong Chinese medicine clinic: a randomized controlled trial. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6842178/#!po=17.3077
- Mi, J., Chen, X., Lin, X., Guo, J., Chen, H., Wei, L., & Hong, H. (2018, January 11). Treatment of persistent allergic rhinitis via acupuncture at the sphenopalatine acupoint: a randomized controlled trial. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5765676/#!po=30.9524
- Luo, Q., Zhang, C. S., Yang, L., Zhang, A. L., Guo, X., Xue, C. C., & Lu, C. (2017, November 6). Potential effectiveness of Chinese herbal medicine Yu ping feng san for adult allergic rhinitis: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5674829/