Diagnosis &

Treatment with

Acupuncture

What is acupuncture?

Acupuncture is an ancient system of medicine. The earliest acupuncture books were written over two thousand years ago and today, worldwide, there are over three million practitioners. Acupuncture began with the discovery that stimulating certain areas of the skin affected the functioning of specific organs. It evolved into a system of healing as the connection between the skin and organs was better understood and more sensitive ways of stimulation were devised. Its effectiveness is due to its power to stimulate our own healing response.

How is a diagnosis made?

A person's energy is distributed through twelve energy pathways. Each pathway is associated with an organ and for each organ there are a variety of patterns of energy imbalance - these are called syndromes. When diagnosing I will look for the syndrome that reflects your constitutional type as well as the one which underlies your specific complaint.

Oriental medicine has a number of special diagnostic procedures: the typical emotional state or temperament, the condition of the skin, facial colour, and sound of the voice. Also the systems of the body (sleep, appetite, digestion etc.) are affected in very specific ways in different syndromes.

Treatment

Treatment is the process of re-establishing the energy balance. This is done by inserting very fine stainless steel needles into acupuncture points, either stimulating or reducing the flow of energy in a specific pathway. As the energy balance improves, health improves. On your initial visit, I will gather information on your symptoms and treatments to date; your medical and family history; the functioning of your main organs; hot and cold areas of the body.

Generally you will visit weekly to begin with and less frequently as you improve. The speed of improvement varies more according to the person than to the type of complaint.

Does it hurt?

Some people would like to try acupuncture but don't because they assume it will be painful. In fact, as the needles used as much finer than those used for injections, only a slight prick is felt as the needle goes through the skin. When the needle reaches the desired point (an area 4-5 millimetres below the surface of the skin) there is another sensation often described as a dull ache. It is rarely described as painful and lasts only 1-2 seconds.