Benign Prostatic Hypertrophy (BPH) is a condition in which the prostate gland, which surrounds the urethra, becomes enlarged and congested.  This condition is unfortunately quite common in men over age 50, and one out of four men will require treatment at some point in their life.  As the prostate gets enlarged, it can compromise the healthy outflow of urine, creating many uncomfortable and disruptive symptoms, including urinary frequency, urgency, nighttime urination, weak stream, incomplete voiding, dribbling, urinary retention, and pain.  Prolonged urinary retention can have serious consequences, including kidney failure. 

Conventional Western Medical treatment includes drug therapy, catheterization, and surgery.  Although post-surgical prognosis is usually good, it is not uncommon for complications to arise, including infection, bleeding, incontinence, and impotence.  Classical Acupuncture offers a viable alternative or complementary treatment to conventional methods to help alleviate the discomforts and risks associated with this condition, and aims to address the underlying conditions which allow it to arise in the first place.

There are three main diseases mechanisms that are commonly seen in BPH from a Chinese Medical perspective, which are all treatable by acupuncture.  First off, there may be weakness in the energetics of the kidney and spleen.  One way this can manifest is called qi deficiency.  Qi is a Chinese Medical concept that can broadly be thought of as life energy, or the motivating force that drives physiological processes in the body.  Both spleen and kidney qi are responsible for discharging urine from the body, so if this function is weakened, symptoms such as weakened urinary stream, incontinence, and leakage may arise. 

A second disease mechanism that is often found with BPH is called damp heat, which is characteristic of the inflammation and also possibly bacterial infection that is often seen in the prostate from a Western perspective.  Symptoms of damp heat include pain, burning, urinary frequency, and urgency, and if severe, can manifest with blood in the urine.  The third disease mechanism commonly seen is a condition of blockage in the urethra, which can be due to stagnation of qi in the local acupuncture meridians and/or stagnation of blood flow leading to insufficient blood circulation to the area.  Lastly, BPH can also be linked to disharmony of the lungs in Chinese Medicine, as the lungs play an important role in fluid metabolism in the body.

When treating BPH with acupuncture, the acupuncturist will do a detailed intake to learn of all the symptoms which are present and which have been present in the past, as well as ask about more generalized signs and symptoms that may be distantly related.  An assessment of lifestyle factors will be undertaken to determine whether these may have played a role in the manifestation of the condition, and traditional diagnostic examinations including palpation of the pulses at the radial artery of the wrist, and examination of the tongue, will help the practitioner determine the nature of the disharmony.  Once a proper diagnosis has been made, acupuncture will be performed to treat the disharmonies, which in many cases will lead to both symptomatic relief, as well as re-establishment of the health of the genito-urinary system, which will help ensure that the problems do not come back.  It is not necessary to suffer from the uncomfortable and disruptive symptoms of BPH, and in many cases, the risks of surgery can be avoided by acupuncture treatment.