Jessica Kennedy - Acupuncture in London SE1

Acupuncture for hayfever can be great for reducing your sneezing, runny nose, itchy eyes, stuffy head, and all the other horrible symptoms that can accompany a walk in the park when you're suffering from hayfever. Acupuncture and acupressure can both be really effective.

It varies from person to person, but for some people ear acupressure for hayfever really works! Jessica is offering one-off consultations in ear acupressure for hayfever. She'll assess your individual case and apply an acupressure seed to your ear as described below. You'll get an instruction sheet and extra seeds to take away, together with photos of your ears (ears really are very individual!) which Jessica will mark with the right spots. The appointment will take about 30 minutes and you'll be all set to continue treatment at home for up to two months.

Acupressure uses 'ear seeds' that are left on your ear. To find the perfect acupoints for you Jessica will press several areas on your ear gently. In the right spot for you she'll apply a small seed, and a tiny piece of surgical tape to hold it in place. The seed will apply continuous gentle acupressure to the point, and it may feel quite tender if your hayfever is in full swing.

As well as using acupuncture or acupressure during the hayfever season, great results can come from from starting treatment a few months earlier, and strengthening your system up front. Acupuncture can also help with other types of allergies.

Research

A 2003 report by the World Health Organisation (WHO)(1) found that hayfever is one of the conditions "for which acupuncture has been proved - through controlled trials - to be an effective treatment".

Meanwhile a review(2) by the British Medical Journal described acupuncture as "very safe" when practiced by an appropriately-qualified practitioner.

The modern evidence base for acupuncture is incomplete, and this is true for a great many areas of conventional medicine too. The Clinical Evidence website of the British Medical Journal tells us that of the 2,500 conventional medical treatments their databases cover, 46% are of unknown effectiveness (as at October 2009)(3).

Jessica continues to witness the benefits of acupuncture for many people in her work, utilising the knowledge and practice of Chinese medicine built up over thousands of years. She's happy that more and more modern scientific research is being done into acupuncture, helping to bring it to a wider audience.

Contact Jessica

Each of us responds differently to acupuncture. Do get in touch to discuss whether acupuncture is likely to be right for you, or to make an appointment.

Other conditions

Acupuncture can help with a wide range of health problems, click below to find out more:

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(3) From the 'About Us' area of the Clinical Evidence BMJ website, page titled 'How much do we know', http://clinicalevidence.bmj.com/ceweb/about/knowledge.jsp. Extract at Oct 2009: "So what can Clinical Evidence tell us about the state of our current knowledge? What proportion of commonly used treatments are supported by good evidence, what proportion should not be used or used only with caution, and how big are the gaps in our knowledge? Of around 2500 treatments covered 13% are rated as beneficial, 23% likely to be beneficial, 8% as trade off between benefits and harms, 6% unlikely to be beneficial, 4% likely to be ineffective or harmful, and 46%, the largest proportion, as unknown effectiveness"