What can Acupuncture Treat?
Acupuncture has been found to be effective for treating a wide range of conditions. Here are a few common examples of what acupuncture can treat.
BUT… what acupuncture really treats is the whole person, not the disease.
One of the cornerstones of acupuncture is the concept of holism. What that means to me is that you cannot separate physical, emotional and spiritual aspects of the patient or their condition. You must treat all these aspects because they are all part of the person and therefore all play a part in the problem.
For example if you come with headaches, I could just treat the headache using pain management techniques, but this would be like giving an aspirin. I need to investigate the cause of the headaches. It may be stress-related or maybe there is high blood pressure. It could even be associated with constipation. So I need to explore all these facets and treat all those problems too.
Migraines/Headaches
Back problems/Sciatica
ME/Chronic Fatigue
Digestive problems/IBS/Constipation
Asthma
Gynaecological issues
Aches and pains/Frozen shoulder etc
Tinnitus
Anxiety/Depression
Sinusitis
Hayfever
Fertility problems
Problems during Pregnancy
Skin conditions
Acupuncture looks for the root cause of disease.
In Chinese Medicine we have the concept of the ben (the cause) and the biao (the manifestation). If we treat just the manifestation (our symptoms), you will feel good for a while, but ultimately will continue to suffer. We need to treat the cause as well so that you can move on and be able to get well and stay well.
It is also worth remembering that Traditional Chinese Medicine has its own diagnostic process. So patients do not have to have a western medicine disease diagnosis to have acupuncture. Most western medicine diagnoses could be any one (or more) of several Chinese Medicine patterns.
One of the advantages of Chinese Medicine is that people can come with a very non-specific feeling of ill-health, and we will still be able to find a diagnosis that we can work with.
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