Acupuncture For Painful Conditions

How does acupuncture help pain?

In the west much has been studied and we are beginning to understand it more.

Acupuncture needling stimulate sensory nerves under the skin and in the muscles of the body. It results in the body producing and releasing natural substances, such as pain-relieving endorphins in the spinal cord and brain. It’s likely that these naturally released substances are responsible for the analgesic effects experienced with acupuncture and possibly due to a modification of how the pain signals are received.

If you have pain – especially back, neck or joint pain there is a good chance that acupuncture will help reduce it and reduce the need for you to take strong painkillers in many cases.

Needles are sited around the painful area as well as more distant sites. A course of acupuncture usually creates longer lasting pain relief for you than when a single treatment is used.

As a result, pain can be reduced for many of the common joint pains you could be suffering from including arthritis joint pain, low back and sciatica or neck pain, also headache and migraine.

NICE guidance presently supports the use of acupuncture for headache and migraine, The SIGN guidelines recommend it for low back pain, knee pain and osteoarthritis.

Sometimes, you can combine acupuncture with conventional treatments that have been prescribed by a GP or hospital consultant. If you are being treated by an acupuncturist for a health condition, it is advisable to discuss this with your GP.