Chinese Medical Services

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Acupuncture

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Acupuncture is a form of treatment that involves inserting very thin needles through a person's skin at specific points on the body, to various depths. Conditions it is used to include different kinds of pain, such as headaches, blood pressure problems, and whooping cough, among others.

Traditional Chinese medicine explains that health is the result of a harmonious balance of the complementary extremes of "yin" and "yang" of the life force known as "qi," pronounced "chi." Illness is said to be the consequence of an imbalance of the forces.
 

The NCCIH note that it has been proven to help in cases of:

• low back pain

• neck pain

• osteoarthritis

• knee pain

• headache and migraine

They list additional disorders that may benefit from acupuncture, but which require further scientific confirmation.

In 2003, the World Health Organization (WHO) listed a number of conditions in which they say acupuncture has been proven effective.

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These include:

• high and low blood pressure

• chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting

• some gastric conditions, including peptic ulcer

• painful periods

• dysentery

• allergic rhinitis

• facial pain

• morning sickness

• rheumatoid arthritis

• sprains

• tennis elbow

• sciatica

• dental pain

• reducing the risk of stroke

• inducing labor

Other conditions for which the WHO say that acupuncture may help but more evidence is needed include:

• fibromyalgia

• neuralgia

• post-operative convalescence

• substance, tobaccor and alcohol dependence

• spine pain

• stiff neck

• vascular dementia

• whooping cough, or pertussis

• Tourette syndrome