What is Acupuncture?

Acupuncture originates from China and has been practised there for thousands of years. Although there are records of Acupuncture being used hundreds of years ago in Europe, it was during the second half of the twentieth century it began to spread rapidly in Western Europe, the United States and Canada.

Acupuncture involves the insertion of very thin needles through the patient’s skin at specific points on the body – the needles are inserted to various depths to stimulate the nervous system, muscles and connective tissues and can encourage pain relief and promote healing and well-being.

The medical community is not in conclusive agreement about how acupuncture works scientifically. However, we do know that it does have a wide range of therapeutic benefits. Acupuncture can work well for both acute and chronic conditions. If you want to find out how Acupuncture might be able to help you, get in touch with us.

Why Acupuncture

A 2003 report by the World Health Organisation found 28 conditions for which there is good evidence of Acupuncture’s efficiency. The report also found evidence that had shown many other conditions for which Acupuncture may be able to help. The 28 Diseases, symptoms or conditions for which acupuncture has been proved – through controlled trials—to be an effective treatment are:

• Adverse reactions to radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy
• Allergic rhinitis (including hay fever)
• Biliary colic
• Depression (including depressive neurosis and depression following stroke)
• Dysentery, acute bacillary
• Dysmenorrhoea, primary
• Epigastralgia, acute (in peptic ulcer, acute and chronic gastritis, and gastrospasm)
• Facial pain (including craniomandibular disorders)
• Pain in dentistry (including dental pain and temporomandibular dysfunction)
• Hypertension, essential
• Hypotension, primary
• Induction of labour
• Knee pain
• Leukopenia
• Low back pain
• Malposition of fetus
• Morning sickness
• Nausea and vomiting
• Neck pain
• Headache
• Periarthritis of shoulder
• Postoperative pain
• Renal colic
• Rheumatoid arthritis
• Sciatica
• Sprain
• Stroke
• Tennis elbow