can acupuncture help

CAN ACUPUNCTURE HELP YOU?

Over recent years acupuncture has started to be used more frequently in mainstream healthcare in the U.k. It is particularly used in relation to the treatment of muscular-skeletal pain and as a supportive treatment alongside assisted fertility and pregnancy.

Acupuncture has been used for over 2,000 in many Eastern cultures, where it is considered to be a complete system of medicine. It has also recently been introduced in Cuba, as part of mainstream National Healthcare.

In these Eastern cultures, it is used as a primary source of preventative medicine and treatment to support male and female reproductive health generally. It is also used to treat specific gynaecological conditions such as endometriosis, dysmenorrhea, pelvic inflammation, Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) and erratic periods.

There is a growing body of scientific research into acupuncture's uses, but there is still little data that conforms to the usual Western medical standards of large scale, double-blind, randomised, controlled trials. These kind of trials are difficult to achieve for acupuncture because treatment of the patient is holistic and tailored to the individual. Additionally, achieving a double-blind study, where neither the patient nor the practitioner knows who is having "real acupuncture" is impossible!

However, Western medical standards of research do support the use of acupuncture for dental pain, nausea and vomiting, migraine relief and tension-type headaches, and as a temporary, additional treatment, for osteo-arthritic knee pain.

In 2009 the National Institure for Health and Clinical Excellence recommended that acupuncture should be made available on the NHS, as a cost-effective short-term treatment for the management of early, persistent non-specific lower back pain

Research also suggests that acupuncture is very good for relieving STRESS. This isn't good for fertility and is beginning to be recognised as implicated in many health conditions e.g. headaches, digestive problems, anxiety and depression, sleep problems etc.

The Zita West Clinic in London are strong advocates of acupuncture's use as part of a co-ordinated approach to supporting the best possible levels of reproductive health.

The British Acupuncture Council, the main regulatory body for practitioners in the UK regularly publishes evidence for acupunctures use. Please click on the links below to access their fact-sheets

Anxiety

Back Pain

Bell's Palsy

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Gastrointestinal tract disorders

Insomonia

Irritable Bowel Syndrome