What is acupuncture?
Acupuncture is a medical treatment which originated in China several thousands of years ago which can relieve symptoms of some physical and psychological conditions by encouraging the patient’s body to heal and repair itself if it is able to do so.

Acupuncture stimulates the fine network of nerves running both in the skin and the deeper tissues. The impulses from these stimulated nerves then pass to both the spinal cord and the brain, blocking pain and altering the nervous systems’ control of other bodily organs such as the digestive, urinary and reproductive organs. Furthermore various chemicals produced in the brain and spinal cord are increased in amount. These chemicals have a variety of properties but are both natural painkillers and anti-inflammatory and healing agents. These chemicals then travel via nerves to the areas stimulated, i.e. a painful knee, where they set about trying to reduce pain and heal the painful joint.

Treatment
Each patient’s case needs to be fully assessed by the practitioner and treatment will then be tailored to that individual. Typically, fine needles are inserted through the skin and left in position either just in the fat beneath the skin, in muscle or even down to the lining of bone. The needles are left in position briefly or for longer periods (up to twenty minutes) and may be stimulated either by turning the needle by hand or electrically with a special stimulator. The number of needles inserted varies but may be only two or three and depends on the condition being treated.

Treatment might be once a week to begin with, then at longer intervals as the condition responds. An average of three to six treatments may be required for a condition to improve.

Here are some of the ways in which acupuncture may be effective.

• Pain relief for a wide variety of conditions including frozen shoulder, neck or backache and other types of rheumatic problems.
• Abdominal problems such as irritable bowel syndrome, irritable bladder and bed wetting in children.
• Psychological symptoms associated with premenstrual syndrome, anxiety and mild depression.
• Skin problems such as itching, and excessive sweating.
• A variety of conditions such as chronic catarrh, hay fever, stopping smoking, headaches and migraines.
  

• Email: bmasadmin@aol.com
• Phone: Tel: 01606 786782
• medical-acupuncture.co.uk 

If you contemplate having acupuncture by a non-medical practitioner please ensure that he or she has received some form of training in acupuncture and is suitably qualified.

RECENT AUDIT IN THIS PRACTICE

Below is a recent audit of acupuncture on patients seen in one doctors surgery for a variety of conditions over the past year at The Abbey Practice.

Any patient who presented with symptoms which had lasted for over two weeks was entered into the study.

Patients were asked to complete a questionnaire which scored how severely you rated each of your symptoms, activity which was limited and your general well-being. The reason for scoring each category is that the questionnaire tries to measure how much the problem you are experiencing affects your life quality. This is important because in some cases a painkilling medication may relieve the pain but result in your feeling so unwell that your quality of life may be diminished.

The results obtained are based on data collected from over 150 patients treated by acupuncture for a variety of conditions; neck, shoulder, hip, knee pain, headaches, urinary problems or vertigo.

Analysis of the data from the study shows that:

• 38% of the patients with the above conditions have had their symptoms greatly improved by acupuncture.
• 32% had their symptoms much improved
• 30% did not improve and many of these have now been referred for further treatment, namely knee or hip replacements

Our aim is to continue this study to see if the benefits can be maintained long term.

Further studies on the use of acupuncture in this practice are detailed in various articles below.