Acupuncture
Traditional Chinese (TCM) Acupuncture
Acupuncture is a tried and tested system of medicine. The Chinese and other eastern cultures have been using acupuncture to restore, promote and maintain good health for thousands of years. Nowadays more and more people are finding this long established therapy can offer an effective solution to all manner of today’s ills.
Good health is not just the absence of pain or disease. Traditional acupuncture works to maintain the body’s equilibrium by focusing on all aspects of wellbeing, physical, mental, and emotional.
According to traditional Chinese philosophy, our health is dependent on the body’s motivating energy moving in a smooth and balanced way through a series of channels beneath the skin. This energy is known as qi. The flow of qi can be disturbed by any number of factors. These include emotional states such as anxiety, anger, or grief, as well as poor nutrition, hereditary factors, infections, and trauma. When the qi is unbalanced, illness may result. The acupuncturist inserts ultra fine needles at chosen points along the channels of energy. The aim is to stimulate the body’s own healing response and restore its natural balance. Treatment is aimed at the root of your condition, as well as your symptoms. This approach can lead to a more permanent resolution of your problem.
Styles Of Acupuncture
It is important to be aware of the differences existing between the distinct acupuncture styles, philosophies and depth of needling at present used in this country (UK).
Traditional Acupuncture based on Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) which could mean:
-The much more gentle and shallow acupuncture commonly used by those trained in most of Britain’s schools, or
-The type of more powerful acupuncture using deeper needling performed in present day China.
Five Element Acupuncture as well as ‘Stems & Branches’ acupuncture
These styles focus on bringing balance between the 5 elements ( fire, earth, metal, water and wood). It focuses on acupoints mainly located on the extremities of the arms & legs. Needle insertion is often very shallow and is very gentle.
Integrated Acupuncture
This combines ‘Five Element’ with ‘British style Traditional acupuncture’.
Medical Acupuncture
This is the acupuncture practiced by western doctors, physiotherapists, osteopaths, and chiropractors. They mainly perform acupuncture for pain relief relating to musculo-skeletal problems. Most of them do not recognise Qi Energy or meridians and do not use Chinese diagnosis.
Microsystems Acupuncture is alternative to & complementary to traditional acupuncture. It comprises the following :
-Auricular acupuncture uses either needles, studs, seeds or metal balls on specific points which functionally and topographically represent the whole body.
-Korean Hand acupuncture “Sujok “ treats in the same way.
-Wrist and Ankle acupuncture based on 12 points which energetically links into all the body’s physiological systems.
-Scalp acupuncture affects the motor, sensory and associative areas of the cerebral cortex.
-Master Tung and Dr Tan acupuncture systems where needles are inserted into specific areas which correspond to specific and quite different parts of the body.
Conditions That Acupuncture Can Treat
Acute and chronic pain, such as back pain and sciatica, knee pain, shoulder pain, neck tension, tennis elbow, arthritis, plantar fasciitis and carpel tunnel syndrome,
Emotional problems, such as anxiety, depression, panic disorder, obsessive disorders and insomnia
Gynaecological and hormonal problems such as period pain, PMS, infertility, endometriosis, irregular periods, PCOS, pelvic pain, menopausal symptoms like hot flushes and night sweats , and pregnancy care including morning sickness.
Digestive problems, such as IBS, diarrhoea, constipation, inflammatory bowel disease, and acid reflux
Neurological problems, such as Migraines, Headaches, Stroke sequilae, Multiple Sclerosis, Neuropathic pain, dizziness and restless leg syndrome,
Chronic pain and fatigue conditions, such as Fibromyalgia, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and ME
Respiratory conditions, such as Asthma, breathlessness, rhinitis and hay fever,
And many others, including urinary disorders, chemotherapy side-effects, skin conditions…
The World Health Organisation has documented a wide variety of diseases and disorders for which acupuncture therapy has been tested in controlled clinical trials. Click here for details.
I am also now having treatment for back pain that in the past has been quite crippling – I think this has been exasperated by my other 2 injuries. Again thankfully Ed’s treatments have released pain and stiffness and I am far more mobile, so a massive big thank you Ed.