What can acupuncture do for me?

Acupuncture is a holistic system of medicine, rather than a technique for treating one kind of complaint.  It can help with a very wide range of conditions, including:

The wider benefits

Acupuncture can also treat less well-defined complaints, where a person feels 'not right' in some sense, experiencing physical, mental or emotional distress without a specific 'symptom.'

People receiving acupuncture frequently report benefits well beyond their original complaint - often feeling better in themselves and more resourceful in facing the world and the challenges of work, family or relationships.

Effectiveness

As with many conventional medical treatments, scientific research to confirm the effectiveness of acupuncture continues.  Positive findings are reported frequently, here are some examples from BBC's news website:

  back pain

  arthritis

  headaches

  high blood pressure

  how acupuncture may reduce pain

  morning sickness

  pelvic pain during pregnancy

The British Acupuncture Council's news page also links to articles about research showing the benefits of acupuncture for a range of conditions.

A review of acupuncture research in 2000 by the British Medical Association (BMA) said "the evidence suggests that acupuncture is more effective that control interventions for back pain, nausea and vomiting (most convincingly for post-operative symptoms in adults), migraine and dental pain."

A recently-published study of 214 people attending the acupuncture clinic at the College of Integrated Chinese Medicine found that more than 80% reported at least a moderate increase in their main complaint, with over half reporting a major improvement or full recovery.  In addition 88% reported at least a moderate improvement in their general health.

('Exploring Acupuncture in a College Clinic - Patient profile and evaulation of overall treatment benefit,' European Journal of Oriental Medicine, Vol 5, No 4, 2007, Shaw et al)

So although no medical treatment (from prescription drugs right through to surgery) is able to help everyone with every problem, acupuncture brings great benefits to many people, and it could be just the thing for you!

Safety

Members of the British Acupuncture Council (BAcC) follow its Code of Safe Practice, to ensure hygiene and safety.  This is "approved by the Department of Health, and provides protection against the transmission of infectious diseases."

A review by the British Medical Journal in 2001 found that "The conclusion that acupuncture is a very safe intervention in the hands of a competent practitioner seems justified on the evidence available. Certainly the dangers of many orthodox procedures are greater, though no easy comparisons can be made."

A review by the US National Institutes of Health in 1997 concluded that: "One of the advantages of acupuncture is that the incidence of adverse effects is substantially lower than that of many drugs or other accepted medical procedures used for the same conditions. As an example, musculoskeletal conditions, such as fibromyalgia, myofascial pain, and tennis elbow, or epicondylitis, are conditions for which acupuncture may be beneficial. These painful conditions are often treated with, among other things, anti-inflammatory medications (aspirin, ibuprofen, etc.) or with steroid injections. Both medical interventions have a potential for deleterious side effects but are still widely used and are considered acceptable treatments. The evidence supporting these therapies is no better than that for acupuncture."

What is acupuncture?

Traditional acupuncture is an ancient healing art, developed over several thousand years in the Far East.  It takes a holistic approach to diagnosis and treatment, considering each patient as a whole, and as a unique individual.  It can be used to preserve health as well as to treat illness.  It can treat a wide range of conditions.

It aims to correct imbalances and bring the body, mind and emotions back to harmony, just as conventional medicine also aims to bring the body back to a state of healthy homeostasis.  Diagnosis and treatment within Chinese Medicine is a highly skilled art, as each of usually represents a very complex pattern of overlapping and inter-related disharmonies. 

It looks at the human body through an Eastern paradigm, where bodily processes are powered and maintained by the flow of Qi energy.  Disturbances in this flow generate illness.  Acupuncture points are sited in key locations for influencing the flow of Qi, and are used to restore a smooth flow.

Jessica practices an integrated style of acupuncture, using both the Five Elements and TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) approaches.

The Five Element approach is concerned with identifying and nourishing your underlying constitutional challenge.  This imbalance is the most underlying health challenge for each of us.  We all have a primary constitutional imbalance in one of the five Elements, which correlate with certain physical organs, bodily functions, common health imbalances, and emotional tendencies.  Jessica's Five Element reference cards explore the resonances of each elemental constitution, and lots of ways to nourish each one.

As an inter-related approach, TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) helps take more of a snap-shot of your health.  It allows your seemingly diverse symptoms to be grouped into ‘Patterns’ of common imbalances. 

Lifestyle advice

With its holistic approach, Chinese Medicine is also often able to identify factors in your lifestyle - diet, working life, relationships, emotional states - which you could get great benefits from adjusting.

How does acupuncture work?

Well now you're asking.  Acupuncture has been developed empirically over thousands of years in the Far East.  First someone somewhere noticed a benefit from pressing a certain point on the body, and a few millennia later we have a body-wide tried and tested system of needling.

From a conventional Western point of view, the mechanism by which acupuncture works is uncertain.  Looking at acupuncture purely for pain relief, the 'gate' theory suggests that the needling effects areas of the nervous system and stops pain signals getting through to the brain.  Another theory suggests that the needling stimulates the release of endorphins, the body's natural pain-killers.  And this is just looking at one of acupuncture's many potential beneficial effects!

Scientific investigations continue, for example see this BBC article about the effect of acupuncture needling on electrical activity in different parts of the brain. 

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. 

© Jessica Kennedy 2005-8, all rights reserved