Traditionally, acupuncture was used as a preventative medicine to help the body to remain balanced to avoid ill health. Nowadays, particularly outside of eastern Asia, acupuncture is seen more as an additional or alternative way to manage a health difficulty that has already manifested.
Acupuncture can be particularly effective in supporting treatment of
Musculoskeletal issues (e.g. frozen shoulder, tennis elbow, back pain, osteoarthritis)
Mental/emotional issues (e.g. stress, anxiety, depression, fearfulness)
Neurological conditions (e.g. migraine, Bell’s Palsy, MS, stroke rehab)
Gynaecological conditions (e.g. PCOS, PMS, menopausal symptoms)
It can also be effective for a wide range of other complaints, including digestive, urinary, hormonal, headaches and more.
The reason acupuncture can show effects in such a wide range of complaints is because it is an entire diagnostic and treatment paradigm in its own right, developed over thousands of years, with the need to address all the conditions/complaints in the population it serves.
TCM has a different theoretical framework to that seen in conventional medicine. Its theory links organ systems and symptomology in ways which are unfamiliar to much of our Western understanding, and which offer a very different set of diagnostic tools. For example, TCM may see links between anger management issues and eye disorders, or between lower back pain and swollen ankles. This is why I may ask you questions that may seem unrelated to your presenting complaint.
To map Chinese Medicine onto Western diagnoses isn’t always straightforward, and two people with the same diagnosis may be treated in very different ways using acupuncture.
It should be noted that acupuncture is not a panacea - it works better for some conditions than others, and it works better for some people than others, just as is true of all medicine and health systems. As with most things in life, the more the individual is committed to the undertaking, the better the results.
For more information on specific conditions, please click below:
