Health professionals and authorities have noted alarm about the arising dangers of antibiotic resistance among patients suffering from urinary tract infection (UTI). The reality is that they are deeming this to be a reason, among other reasons, why urinary tract infection, especially among women, has become a persistent or acute type of a disease.

There are about more than 12 million people in the United States suffering from acute UTI infections. This is an astounding statistic considering that over-the-counter antibiotics have multiplied in sales eight fold during the time the FDA had approved them being sold without needing doctor’s prescription.

Medical experts agree that too much use of antibiotics to try and address urinary tract infection can lead to the UTI pathogen’s resistance to the antibiotic drug.

Physicians these days, permit some of their patients with UTI to avail of certain forms of treatment when they see that the infection has developed resistance to antibiotics. However, this permission often comes with the advice that consultations with the doctor should be done first before going actually ahead with the alternative form of treatment. Chinese acupuncture is one of the most popular and safest forms of alternative treatment for UTI.

Clinical tests and medical studies have already been done to give credence for acupuncture to be an effective natural therapy for UTI. The clinical studies done by the scientists at University of Bergen in Norway produced outcomes that showed acupuncture to significantly work in treating UTI in three quarters of the women who took part in these studies who were suffering from this condition.

Based on these studies, a random application of acupuncture treatments were given to the women patients. The acupuncture procedure involved needling of the lower extremities or on the lower stomach. The acupuncture points that were needled were based on the diagnosis used in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). The acupuncture treatments were performed for a month two times a week and the return of any of the UTI symptoms were duly noted for a period of six months.

The outcomes were particularly revealing. They showed that among the women who were given acupuncture, about three quarters were cleared of any symptoms as compared to only 50% rate of success of the women who were given other treatments for their UTI.

The researchers argue that acupuncture’s efficacy in treating urinary tract infection is due to its capacity to cut down levels of residue in the urine. Traditional Chinese medicine practitioners and acupuncturists would state that the success of acupuncture in treating UTI stems from its ability to boost the flow of vital energy (qi) in the problematic parts of the body, especially the lower stomach.

What is qi?

One of the foundations of traditional Chinese medicine is the concept of qi or chi. Qi is the life giving substances circulating in the body that may come from the air we breathe, the water we drink and the food we eat.

The aforementioned studies about the ability of acupuncture to lower urine are encouraging, to say the least. The studies show that there are other ways to treat urinary tract infection besides conventional modes of treatment. However, before a patient who is suffering from UTI decides to get acupuncture treatment, he/she needs to consult with his/her doctor first.