Theory
Acupuncture is a tried and trusted system of medicine. The Chinese and other Eastern cultures have been using acupuncture to restore, promote and maintain good health for thousands of years, and in the West since the 1970s. It is a highly sophisticated, gentle system of medicine based on the premise that a state of well being is achieved and maintained through the balancing of energy systems within the body and of the body’s motivating energy known as Qi. This flows throughout the body, but is concentrated in channels beneath the skin, known as meridians
The aim of treatment is to restore the balance between the equal and opposite qualities of Qi, namely the Yin and the Yang. In Traditional Acupuncture many things are considered to upset this balance, disturb the flow of Qi and cause ill health, or disharmony. These include emotional states such as anxiety, anger, fear, grief and pensiveness. Other factors include poor nutrition, the weather, hereditary factors, infections, poisons, accidents and trauma.
Acupuncture treats the whole person and hence considers both physical and emotional problems in treatment. The style of acupuncture I practice is particularly useful with chronic illness and especially with those hard to diagnose illnesses, and where patients know they are not right and less exactly what is wrong.
Modern research has found that acupuncture can affect most of the body’s systems. These include the nervous system, muscle tone, hormone outputs, circulation, allergic responses, as well as the respiratory, digestive, urinary and reproductive systems. Increasingly acupuncture is being used alongside conventional medicine and not only in the field of pain management. Its use in the NHS corresponds with a greater degree of acceptance of its benefits by conventional doctors.