Acupuncture is a technique in which practitioners stimulate specific points on the body—most often by inserting thin needles through the skin. It is one of the practices used in traditional Chinese medicine.
Science and Acupuncture
Acupuncture may help ease types of pain that are often chronic such as low-back pain, neck pain, and osteoarthritis/knee pain. It also may help reduce the frequency of tension headaches and prevent migraine headaches. Therefore, acupuncture appears to be a reasonable option for people with chronic pain to consider. However, clinical practice guidelines are inconsistent in recommendations about acupuncture.
The effects of acupuncture on the brain and body and how best to measure them are only beginning to be understood. Current evidence suggests that many factors—like expectation and belief—that are unrelated to acupuncture needling may play important roles in the beneficial effects of acupuncture on pain.
Conditions that May Respond to Acupuncture Treatment
Patients with a variety of diagnoses have experienced positive outcomes with acupuncture. Diagnoses we regularly treat are:
- Lower Back Pain
- Neck Pain
- Headaches
- Chronic Pain
- Osteoarthritis Related Pain
Safety and Side Effects of Acupuncture
Relatively few complications from using acupuncture have been reported. Still, complications have resulted from use of nonsterile needles and improper delivery of treatments. Rest assured that we use new, sterile needles for each and every acupuncture treatment.
