Acupuncture can be used for people of all ages with a wide range of conditions.
The translation between the patterns of Chinese medicine and western named conditions is a fascinating one. For nearly every named condition you bring to your practitioner, like dental pain, or osteoarthritis of the knee, there is a complex weave of different syndromes and patterns within which it is understood. The symptoms are important, a bridge between what you experience and how the practitioner, be they eastern or western, makes sense of your condition. Every symptom has meaning within the eastern tradition. The following article on the World Health Organisation website also provides interesting information about acupuncture and it's uses.
http://apps.who.int/medicinedocs/en/d/Js4926e/5.html
Treatment is aimed at the root of your condition as well as your main symptoms. This approach helps with resolving your problem and enhancing your feeling of wellbeing. You may notice other niggling problems resolve as your main health complaint improves.
Acupuncture can be used for children, adolescents, during pregnancy, to complement medical treatments and psychological therapies, and into old age. Life changes such as moving house, bereavement, getting divorced, and even getting married can present their own stresses and strains on our health and well being. A course of acupuncture can help to bring us back into balance.
Acupuncture works to help maintain your body's equilibrium.
There is a wide range of acupuncture experience and evidence from China, and more recently from Western sources, regarding the benefits of Acupuncture . Some of the more reductionist scientific research (such as the use of double blind placebo controlled randomised trials for specific points for specific western diagnoses) are beginning to show significant benefits of acupuncture . It is encouraging that such rigorous scientific research can justify acupuncture as an effective technique, for example for nausea and vomiting, or short term relief of tension headaches. Other studies and trials which embrace a more qualitative approach, and are perhaps more suited to the acupuncture process, have also shown very positive results for the use of acupuncture as practiced by traditional acupuncturists.
A new report into the effectiveness of the complementary therapies that are commonly used for treating arthritis and other musculoskeletal conditions was recently undertaken by Arthritis Research UK. Twenty-five therapies were considered in the report. Each therapy was scored according to their effectiveness on a scale of one (little or no evidence that it was effective) to five (good evidence that it was effective), based on published data from clinical trials. Effectiveness was measured in terms of improvements in pain, disability or quality of life. In addition the safety of each therapy was graded either green, amber or red.
Acupuncture was found to be most effective for osteoarthritis, low back pain and fibromyalgia
Copies of the full reports are available from Arthritis Research UK on 0300 790 0400 or email .
A PDF of the report can be downloaded from the website at www.arthritisresearchuk.org
Please contact Liz if you would like to ask about your own condition, or refer to The British Acupuncture Council website for further details about recent research.
www.acupuncture.org.uk/research-fact-sheets.html
