Chinese Medicine is ancient, having evolved over many thousands of years, and in general practice, acupuncture can often be found to be of great help for many different and varied complaints , often including health problems which can appear to be intractable.
The World Health Organisation conducted extensive clinical trials and research in 1980 and 1980, and concluded that, in it's opinion, based on their clinical research and trials, that
"The diseases or disorders for which acupuncture therapy has been tested in controlled clinical trials reported in the recent literature can be classified into four categories as shown below".
(We have detailed the first two categories as being helpful to those of you who may be wondering if acupuncture can possibly help you).
- Adverse reactions to radiotherapy and or chemotherapy
- Allergic rhinitis including hayfever
- Biliary colic
- Depression (including depressive neurosis and depression following stroke)
- Dysentery, acute bacillary
- Dysmenorrhea, primary (severe period pain)
- Epistralgia, acute ( in peptic ulcer, acute and chronic gastritis, and gastrospasm)
- Facial pain (including craniomandibular disorders)
- Headache
- Hypertension, essential
- Hypotension, primary
- Induction of labour
- Knee pain
- Leukopenia
- Low back pain
- Malposition of fetus, correction of
- Morning sickness
- Nausea and vomiting
- Neck pain
- Pain in dentistry (including dental pain and temporomandibular dysfunction)
- Periarthritis of shoulder
- Postoperative pain
- Renal colic
- Rheumatoid arthritis
- Sciatica
- Sprain
- Stroke
- Tennis elbow
The World Health Organisation has also defined a list of conditions for which they find:
Diseases, symptoms or conditions for which the therapeutic effect of acupuncture has been shown but for which further proof is needed:- Abdominal pain ( in acute gastroenteritis or due to gastrointestinal spasm)
- Acne vulgaris
- Alcohol dependence and detoxification
- Bell's palsy
- Bronchial asthma
- Cancer pain
- Cardiac neurosis
- Cholecystitis, chronic with acute exacerbation
- Cholilithiasis
- Competition stress syndrome
- Craniocerebral injury, closed
- Diabetes mellitus, non insulin dependent
- Earache
- Epidemic haemorrhagic fever
- Epistaxisa, simple, (without generalized or local disease)
- Eye pain due to subconjunctival infection
- Female infertility
- Facial spasm
- Female urethral syndrom
- Fibromyalgia and fasciitis
- Gastrokinetic disturbance
- Gouty arthritis
- Hepatitis B virus carrier status
- Herpes zoster (human (alpha) herpesvirus 3)
- Hyperlipaemia
- Hypo-ovarianism
- Insomnia
- Labour pain
- Lactation, deficiency
- Male sexual dysfunction, non-organic
- Meniere disease
- Neuralgia, post-herpetic
- Nerodermatitis
- Osteoarthritis
- Pain due to endoscopic examination
- Pain in thromboanginiitis obliterans
- Poly-cystic ovary syndrome (Stein-Levanthal syndrome)
- Postoperative convalescence
- Premenstrual syndrome
- Prostatitis, chronic
- Pruritus
- Radicular and Pseuroradicular pain syndrome
- Raynaud Syndrome, primary
- Recurrent lower urinary-tract infection
- Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy
- Retention of urine, traumatic
- Schizophrenia
- Sialism, drug induced
- Sjogren syndrome
- Sore throat, including tonsillitis
- Spine pain, acute
- Stiff neck
- Temporomandibular joint dysfunction
- Tietze syndrome
- Tobacco dependence
- Ulcerative colitis, chronic
- Urolithiasis
- Vascular dementia
These lists are by no means complete, and increasingly in our modern society, people are looking for a system of medicine which is analytical, precise and safe. Acupuncture, in the hands of a well trained professional, is certainly all of these things, and can help many ailments which otherwise seem stubbornly entrenched.