What can acupuncture help?
An acupuncturist may be consulted by people with specific symptoms or conditions, such as pain, anxiety, arthritis, eczema, sports injuries hayfever, asthma, migraine, high blood pressure, menstral disorders, intestinal problems or pregnancy management and delivery. While extensive practice and research has shown that acupuncture is effective in helping people with such conditions as well as with many others, it does more that simply relieve symptoms. The aim of acupuncture is to treat the whole patient and to restore the balance between the physical, emotional and spiritual aspects of the individual. In traditional acupuncture, since all illness is considered the result of an imbalance of energy, treatment can benefit almost any ill person as long as the degenerative process in the tissues of the body is not too extensive. Many people also have acupuncture as a preventitive treatment or because they feel unwell in themselves but are not ‘ill’ in the Western sense.
An acupuncturist may be consulted by people with specific symptoms or conditions, such as pain, anxiety, arthritis, eczema, sports injuries hay fever, asthma, migraine, high blood pressure, menstrual disorders, intestinal problems or pregnancy management and delivery. While extensive practice and research has shown that acupuncture is effective in helping people with such conditions as well as with many others, it does more that simply relieve symptoms. The aim of acupuncture is to treat the whole patient and to restore the balance between the physical, emotional and spiritual aspects of the individual. In traditional acupuncture, since all illness is considered the result of an imbalance of energy, treatment can benefit almost any ill person as long as the degenerative process in the tissues of the body is not too extensive. Many people also have acupuncture as a preventative treatment or because they feel unwell in themselves but are not `ill’ in the Western sense.
The effect of good acupuncture, however is to do more than simply cure the symptom. Acupuncture directed at restoring the overall energy balance will deal with the condition and also help the person feel better in a general way. Hence the frequent comment “Im feeling better in myself”, which refers to such things as increased energy and vitality, greater enjoyment of life, greater confidence, better sleep or more normal appetite. For more information about reasearch work undertaken in acupuncture, please visit the Research page of the British Acupuncture Council.
Diseases and disorders that can be treated with acupuncture The diseases or disorders for which acupuncture therapy has been tested in controlled clinical trials reported in the recent literature can be classified into four categories as shown below. 1. Diseases, symptoms or conditions for which acupuncture has been proved—through controlled trials—to be an effective treatment: 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) Headache Hypertension, essential Hypotension, primary Induction of labour Knee pain Leukopenia Low back pain Malposition of fetus, correction of Morning sickness Nausea and vomiting Neck pain Pain in dentistry (including dental pain and temporomandib
