What is Acupuncture?

Acupuncture is one of the therapies used in Chinese Medicine to help treat illness. Fine acupuncture needles are inserted into the skin at specific points on the body. The sensation of the needles can help to reduce pain and give a feeling of wellbeing and relaxation. Acupuncture is often used to relieve pain, but it can help with a range of physical and emotional problems.

The popularity of acupuncture in the UK has grown in the UK over the last 30 years.  In 2005 it was estimated there were 2 million private treatments and 1 million NHS treatments a year.

Acupuncture is most widely known for use in pain relief for musculoskeletal disorders, but it’s used to treat a wide range of conditions; physical and emotional.

Traditional Chinese Medicine provides a useful complement to orthodox medicine as it can treat chronic or recurring problems such as backache, migraines and asthma, and may help to reduce the use or dose of some drugs (depending on the condition and only with the consent of your GP).

Acupuncture can sometimes make sense of illnesses that modern medicine has difficulty treating. Looking at health and illness from a Chinese perspective enables us to treat subtle imbalances. Treatment can not only relieve symptoms, but also improve the functioning of the immune system and create an enhanced sense of happiness and well-being.

Many doctors are increasingly recognising the validity of acupuncture treatment as one of the most valuable complementary therapies.  In May 2009 NICE guidelines recommended acupuncture for low back pain within the NHS.

You may wish to read some of the following articles:

Patients ‘are not lab rats’, The BBC, 8/4/09.

Acupuncture - What is it? The Times, 12/3/05.

It’s official: acupuncture really works, The Guardian 1/5/05.

One month of…Acupuncture, The Guardian 24/6/08.