The diagnosis of breast cancer brings many concerns, including pain.

Researchers have tested whether acupuncture could help women deal with the pain of both the disease and its treatment.

Some 200 post-menopausal women who were undergoing treatment with a drug designed to treat a certain kind of breast cancer were invited to take part in the study.

The women were broken down into three groups, one receiving genuine acupuncture, another receiving fake acupuncture and yet another facing no acupuncture at all.

All groups showed some reduction in the pain scores, but the true acupuncture group had the largest success; a 50 per cent reduction in pain level.

You can read about the study in the Journal of the American Medical Association.