Pain &
InflamMation
Acupuncture is a natural way to deal with pain. Acupuncture needles stimulate the release of endorphins, the body’s natural painkillers, which have a calming and anti-inflammatory effect.
In recent years high-quality clinical trials investigating acupuncture have been conducted, particularly for chronic pain conditions. Evidence is therefore available, and the systematic reviews can draw firm conclusions. Vickers et al 2018, involving over 20,000 adults with osteoarthritis, chronic headache or musculoskeletal pain (back, neck or shoulder) concluded:-
that acupuncture was more effective than control for all pain conditions and the effects persisted over time.
Acupuncture is effective for conditions that don’t respond well to medication, such as migraine, back pain and knee osteoarthritis. When acupuncture was offered to patients with knee osteoarthritis who were to be referred for orthopaedic surgery, a third were able to avoid surgery altogether.
Acupuncture can address not just the pain but also the distress that often accompanies it.
Chronic pain affects one in five adults in Scotland, with many taking medication to treat it, but it’s not helping the majority of people who are on these drugs for the long term. According to NHS Scotland – from research and experience these drugs only help one in four people and of that one in four they might only get a 30% reduction in pain. If people are expecting 100% pain relief it’s not achievable and that’s going to lead to frustration. In addition, they are often powerful high risk drugs that can lead to dependency.
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Acupuncture could also be a key part of the solution to the over prescription of opioids for chronic pain, which is linked to poor pain control, side effects and a risk of addiction.
Acupuncture can help with the following:
- Chronic pain
- Migraines
- Back pain
- Bell’s Palsy
- Restless Leg Syndrome
- Allergic rhinitis
- Frozen shoulder
- Asthma
- Skin conditions
- Ulcerative colitis
- Diabetes
- Neuropathy
- Dental pain
- Fibromyalgia
- ME
- Arthritis
- Autoimmune diseases
- Digestive issues
- Sinusitis
- Thyroid issues