Early-stage breast cancer patients dealing with painful side effects from powerful estrogen-squelching drugs known as aromatase inhibitors got good news today from a team of researchers who led a large and rigorous acupuncture study.

It’s now been scientifically proven that acupuncture relieves joint pain for these patients.

The results, shared at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, came from a blinded, randomized, multicenter trial conducted by SWOG, a global network of researchers that designs and conducts cancer clinical trials. It is the latest in a series of studies to give breast cancer patients better tools — pharmaceutical and otherwise — to combat the debilitating joint and muscle pain commonly associated with aromatase inhibitors, or AIs.

Dr. Dawn Hershman of the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center at Columbia University and lead author of the trial said AI joint pain is “probably the most commonly cited reason breast cancer patients stop taking AI medication.” This trial, she said, provides “a solution that doesn’t include opioids or drugs that can be addictive or have serious side effects.”

Read the full article about acupuncture as pain treatment in breast cancer patients at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.