Acupuncture can help with a number of issues. From hives to hangovers and everything in between. But it’s easy to make unsupported claims, so let’s look at the evidence instead.
The Cochrane Review provides evidence that acupuncture can help with the following: endometriosis, breached babies, pain management in labour, tension headaches, chronic lower back pain, fibromyalgia, shoulder pain, migraine, osteoarthritis, elbow pain, hot flushes, stroke rehabilitation, schizophrenia and sties.
NICE (the National Institute for Health Care and Excellence) recommends acupuncture for migraines and tension type headaches.
The ACP (American College of Physicians) endorses acupuncture for lower back pain.
WHO (The World Health Organisation) lists the following for which acupuncture has been proved -through controlled trials – to be an effective treatment: adverse reactions to radiotherapy and chemotherapy, allergic rhinitis, biliary colic, depression, dysentery, facial pain, headache, knee pain, lower back pain, morning sickness, nausea, neck pain, toothache, shoulder pain, post-operative pain, renal colic, period pain, rheumatoid arthritis, sciatica, sprain, stroke, tennis elbow. It also lists the following has having shown some therapeutic effect in trials when treated with acupuncture, but that further trials are needed: acne, abdominal pain, alcohol dependence, bell’s palsy, cancer pain, earache, eye pain, female infertility, facial spasm, fibromyalgia, herpes zoster, insomnia, labour pain, Meniere’s disease, addiction, Raynaud’s syndrome, schizophrenia, sore throat, tonsillitis, spine pain, stiff neck, Tourette’s, vascular dementia and whooping cough
Acupuncture is now being widely used and accepted as more and more people are finding out how it can help them. Book now and find out how it can benefit you.
