Acupuncture for Cancer Support
How Acupuncture May Support People Affected by Cancer
Cancer and its treatment can affect many aspects of daily life. You might notice changes in your energy, sleep, mood, appetite, or physical comfort. Some people experience ongoing fatigue, pain, nausea, hot flushes, or nerve symptoms, while others feel a general sense of being run down or out of balance.
Acupuncture is increasingly used as part of supportive cancer care. It is not a cure or a replacement for medical treatment, but it may help ease some symptoms and support your overall wellbeing alongside the care you are already receiving (de Valois et al., 2024).
The evidence base is developing and varies depending on the symptom being considered. Some areas, such as cancer-related fatigue, pain, nausea, delayed vomiting, chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy and quality of life, have been examined in systematic reviews and meta-analyses. Other areas, such as lymphoedema and hot flushes, show more mixed or inconclusive findings.
Cancer-Related Fatigue
Cancer-related fatigue can be persistent and difficult to relieve through rest alone. It may occur before treatment, during chemotherapy or radiotherapy, and after treatment has finished.
A systematic review by Posadzki et al. (2013) found that the evidence for acupuncture in cancer-related fatigue was limited and inconclusive, largely because the available trials were small and methodologically variable. This is important, as it prevents overstating the evidence.
However, a later systematic review and meta-analysis by Jang et al. (2020) found more encouraging results. This review included randomised controlled trials of acupuncture for cancer-related fatigue and reported that several studies showed significant improvements in fatigue scores. The review also found that acupuncture was generally well tolerated, with no serious adverse effects reported.
Taken together, the evidence suggests that acupuncture may help some people with cancer-related fatigue, although responses vary and further high-quality research is still needed.
Nausea and Vomiting
Nausea and vomiting can occur in relation to chemotherapy, radiotherapy, surgery or other cancer treatments. These symptoms can affect appetite, hydration, energy levels and quality of life.
Kim, Yeo and Lim (2025) conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of acupuncture for nausea and vomiting in cancer patients. The review included 17 randomised controlled trials involving 2,036 patients. The findings did not show a significant effect for acute nausea or acute vomiting, but acupuncture was associated with a significant reduction in delayed vomiting. The review also reported that benefits were more likely when acupuncture was provided for at least five days.
This suggests that acupuncture may be more useful for delayed vomiting than for immediate acute nausea. It should therefore be presented as a supportive option rather than a guaranteed anti-nausea treatment.
Pain and Discomfort
Pain in cancer care may arise from the illness itself, surgery, treatment side effects, musculoskeletal tension, neuropathy or general physical strain.
Chiu, Hsieh and Tsai (2017) conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of acupuncture for cancer-related pain. Their review included 29 randomised controlled trials and found that acupuncture significantly reduced cancer-related pain overall. The effect appeared stronger for malignancy-related pain and surgery-related pain, while evidence was less convincing for chemotherapy- or radiotherapy-induced pain and hormone therapy-related pain.
This means acupuncture may have a useful role as part of a broader, multimodal approach to pain management, particularly where pain is complex and ongoing. It should not be used as a replacement for prescribed pain medication or specialist pain management, but it may provide additional support for some patients.
Chemotherapy-Induced Peripheral Neuropathy
Chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy can cause numbness, tingling, burning pain, altered sensation or weakness, often in the hands and feet. It can affect walking, balance, sleep and daily functioning.
Zhao et al. (2025) reviewed 18 randomised controlled trials involving 1,048 patients with chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy. Their meta-analysis found that acupuncture was associated with improvements in neuropathy symptoms, pain, quality of life and chemotherapy-related neurotoxicity when compared with control groups.
The authors concluded that acupuncture may be a useful adjunctive treatment for chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy. However, as with much acupuncture research, studies varied in design, treatment protocol and comparison groups, so findings should be interpreted with appropriate caution.
Hot Flushes and Hormonal Treatment Effects
Hot flushes can affect people receiving hormone-related cancer treatments, including some women treated for breast cancer and some men receiving androgen deprivation therapy for prostate cancer.
Hervik and Mjåland (2009) conducted a randomised controlled trial in women with breast cancer experiencing hot flushes while taking tamoxifen. The study found that traditional acupuncture significantly reduced daytime and night-time hot flushes compared with sham acupuncture, with benefits maintained during follow-up.
Beer et al. (2010) conducted a pilot study of acupuncture for hot flushes in men receiving hormonal therapy for prostate cancer. In this small study, 41% of participants had at least a 50% reduction in hot flash score after four weeks, and 55% met this response level at some point during treatment.
Frisk et al. (2014) reviewed longer-term effects of acupuncture for hot flushes in breast and prostate cancer patients. They found that reductions in hot flushes appeared to persist for several months after treatment in some studies. However, Garcia et al. (2015), in a later systematic review, concluded that the evidence remained insufficient to either clearly support or refute acupuncture for hot flushes in cancer patients because of study limitations and risk of bias.
Overall, acupuncture may be worth considering for treatment-related hot flushes, but the evidence remains mixed.
Lymphoedema
Breast cancer-related lymphoedema can cause swelling, heaviness, discomfort and reduced function in the arm or upper body. It requires careful specialist management.
Chien, Liu and Fang (2019) reviewed the evidence for acupuncture in breast cancer-related lymphoedema. Their review found that acupuncture appeared safe and may help some symptoms, but the meta-analysis did not show a significant improvement in arm circumference compared with control interventions.
For this reason, acupuncture should not be presented as a treatment for lymphoedema itself. It may have a supportive role for comfort or wellbeing in some cases, but specialist lymphoedema care remains essential.
Quality of Life and Advanced Cancer Support
For people living with advanced cancer, supportive care often focuses on symptom relief, comfort, dignity and quality of life.
Yu et al. (2025) conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of acupuncture for people with advanced cancer. The review included 17 randomised controlled trials involving 1,178 participants. It found that acupuncture was associated with improved quality of life, reduced pain and fewer adverse effects compared with control groups.
However, the authors also noted substantial variation between studies and rated the quality of evidence for quality of life and pain as very low. This means the findings are encouraging but should be interpreted cautiously.
In clinical practice, this supports a balanced view: acupuncture may be helpful for some people with advanced cancer, particularly as part of palliative and supportive care, but it should always be adapted carefully and used alongside medical care.
Important Information
The information on this page is provided for educational purposes only. It does not constitute medical advice and should not be used as a substitute for diagnosis, advice or treatment from your GP, consultant, oncology team or specialist nurse.
If you are receiving cancer treatment, please inform your medical team about any complementary therapies you are considering or receiving.
References
Beer, T.M., Benavides, M., Emmons, S.L., Hayes, M., Liu, G., Garzotto, M., Donovan, D., Katovic, N., Reeder, C. and Eilers, K. (2010) ‘Acupuncture for hot flashes in patients with prostate cancer’, Urology, 76(5), pp. 1182–1188.
Chien, T-J., Liu, C-Y. and Fang, C-J. (2019) ‘The effect of acupuncture in breast cancer-related lymphoedema (BCRL): a systematic review and meta-analysis’, Integrative Cancer Therapies, 18, pp. 1–9.
Chiu, H.Y., Hsieh, Y.J. and Tsai, P.S. (2017) ‘Systematic review and meta-analysis of acupuncture to reduce cancer-related pain’, European Journal of Cancer Care, 26, e12457.
de Valois, B., Young, T., Zollman, C., Appleyard, I., Ben-Arye, E., Cummings, M., Green, R., Hoffman, C., Lacey, J., Moir, F., Peckham, R., Stringer, J., Veleber, S., Weitzman, M. and Wode, K. (2024) ‘Acupuncture in cancer care: recommendations for safe practice’, Supportive Care in Cancer, 32, 229.
Frisk, J.W., Hammar, M.L., Ingvar, M. and Spetz Holm, A-C.E. (2014) ‘How long do the effects of acupuncture on hot flashes persist in cancer patients?’, Supportive Care in Cancer, 22, pp. 1409–1415.
Garcia, M.K., Graham-Getty, L., Haddad, R., Li, Y., McQuade, J., Lee, R.T., Spano, M. and Cohen, L. (2015) ‘Systematic review of acupuncture to control hot flashes in cancer patients’, Cancer, 121(22), pp. 3948–3958.
Hervik, J. and Mjåland, O. (2009) ‘Acupuncture for the treatment of hot flashes in breast cancer patients, a randomized, controlled trial’, Breast Cancer Research and Treatment, 116, pp. 311–316.
Jang, A., Brown, C., Lamoury, G., Morgia, M., Boyle, F., Marr, I., Clarke, S., Back, M. and Oh, B. (2020) ‘The effects of acupuncture on cancer-related fatigue: updated systematic review and meta-analysis’, Integrative Cancer Therapies, 19, pp. 1–10.
Kim, S-A., Yeo, S. and Lim, S. (2025) ‘Effectiveness and safety of acupuncture for nausea and vomiting in cancer patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis’, Medicina, 61(7), 1287.
Posadzki, P., Moon, T-W., Choi, T-Y., Park, T-Y., Lee, M.S. and Ernst, E. (2013) ‘Acupuncture for cancer-related fatigue: a systematic review of randomized clinical trials’, Supportive Care in Cancer, 21, pp. 2067–2073.
Yu, X., Gong, S-Y., Luo, Q., Xu, G-X., Tian, H., Li, Q., Chen, M., Yang, S. and Yu, S-G. (2025) ‘Effectiveness of acupuncture in improving quality of life for patients with advanced cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis’, Chinese Journal of Integrative Medicine, 31(4), pp. 360–371.
Zhao, Y., Cao, W., Zhang, H., Rong, Q., He, M., Wu, M., Zhao, Y. and Yang, P. (2025) ‘The efficacy of acupuncture in the treatment of chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy in cancer patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis’, Journal of Cancer Survivorship.
If you would like to discuss how acupuncture may be able to support your cancer treatment, please get in touch.