What is acupuncture?

Acupuncture is a complete healthcare system that has been widely used for thousands of years, and is still increasing in popularity today. For many health problems, acupuncture is extremely effective and can have profound results. This is largely because it aims to remove the underlying causes of your health problem, rather than just suppressing the symptoms, and also because it does this by redirecting your body's own energy, which is a natural method of healing that is extremely safe and does not have any of the side-effects that are associated with drug treatments.

How does acupuncture work?

There is a powerful energy flowing in your body. It circulates everywhere and plays an important part in the functioning of all your bodily processes, including the functioning of all your major organs. The Chinese have known about this force for thousands of years and call it ‘Qi’ (pronounced ‘chee’). It is a force similar to electrical or magnetic energy. This energy flows in channels that travel up and down your arms and legs and enter your abdomen, where they connect with all your major organs.

How chronic illnesses develop

If you have gradually become ill over a long period of time, there is usually an underlying cause. This might be related to your lifestyle, diet, emotions (such as anxiety, stress, anger, fear, or grief) or your mental attitudes. Once you are ill, you will have developed some symptoms, which might be physical, emotional, or mental. Over thousands of years, Chinese acupuncturists discovered that these symptoms were being produced by an imbalance between the functioning of your internal organs. This imbalance was probably originally caused by one of the factors mentioned above (lifestyle, diet, emotional, mental).

Lifestyle may cause unhealthy organ functioning

In order to enable your body to meet the demands that your lifestyle has placed on it, your body would have usually adjusted the way that your organs function. In this way, your organs would now be functioning in the most efficient way that they can to meet the demands that your lifestyle places on your body. But the problem here is that nature did not design our bodies to lead the life that most of us find ourselves living. The mental, emotional and physical demands that our modern lifestyles place on our body was not what nature catered for. And this is often why the functioning of your organs have become out of balance with each other and are now working in a way that is unhealthy for your body.

Treating chronic illness with acupuncture

As an acupuncturist I would strive to correct this imbalance. To do this, I would first perform a diagnosis, to discover which of your organs were out of balance with each other, and I would then correct this imbalance by directly stimulating each organ's energy. I would do this by placing fine needles into the channels that connect with those organs.

The needles are often placed into your arms or legs, at specific points on each of the channels, which then stimulates the organs concerned in the appropriate way to correct the imbalance.

With chronic illnesses, acupuncture can be extremely effective. But the longer you have been ill, the longer it may take for you to become completely healthy. With most people, your physical symptoms would usually begin to improve immediately. But the amount of treatments that it would take for you to become completely healthy, would vary with each person. This would depend on how strong your underlying health was, and also on other factors, such as your history of taking strong drug treatments.

How many treatments will I need?

In general, most patients who are being treated for a chronic condition would usually begin by receiving a course of six weekly treatments. After the sixth treatment, we would then review your symptoms and if you were making good progress, we would begin spreading the distance between your treatments, starting with fortnightly treatments. However, some patients find that their symptoms have cleared completely by their sixth treatment and so they might then opt to come for a monthly or seasonal preventive treatment, or possibly to simply come again when they felt like they needed a further treatment. Other patients may need fortnightly or monthly treatments for a longer period, depending on how depleting their lifestyle was and on how many years, or decades, they had been suffering ill health.

Muscular pain or joint injuries treated with acupuncture

If you have a muscular or joint problem, and this only began within the past few weeks or months, then acupuncture is likely to be extremely effective. It is possible that you may only need one or two sessions to completely clear the problem.

With such problems, they usually being as a result of an injury. The shock of the injury disrupts the flow of the energy in that part of your body, and once the energy is not flowing properly, your blood and body fluids also cease to flow properly through that joint or muscle or tendon. When this happens, the joint is not being properly nourished and this is why the pain or restricted movement begins. With acupuncture, I can quickly restore the flow of the energy in that part of your body, and once this is done, your blood and body fluids will return to flowing properly and the joint is then being fully nourished again and the pain will cease.

If, as well as the muscular or joint problem, you also have an underlying problem, then to return you to full health I would also need to tackle the underlying problem. It may be that the underlying problem is making you prone to muscular and joint problems, and it may also be affecting your health in other ways (such as possibly causing digestive problems, headaches, low energy, back ache, poor concentration, poor memory, and so on). If you have a problem of this sort, then you should expect it to take several sessions for me to clear the problem, though the muscular or joint pain may still clear quickly.

NOTE: The above figures concerning the number of treatments that may be required are a general guide. The actual number required will vary depending on each client’s health, and on other factors. I will discuss your individual prognosis with you as your treatment progresses.

The different types of acupuncture

Traditional Chinese Medicine acupuncture is the type of acupuncture that I practise (known as TCM acupuncture). This is the acupuncture that has been practised in China for thousands of years, and it is still by far the most widely practised type of acupuncture in China today. It takes three years of full time study to learn all the basic skills and acquire all the necessary knowledge to properly practise TCM acupuncture. This was the course of study that I underwent. The Licentiate Diploma that I was awarded with is at the same level as a degree.

Another form of acupuncture that is practised in the UK is Medical acupuncture. This is practised by doctors, osteopaths, or physiotherapists. In general, a doctor would only train for a single weekend to learn Medical acupuncture, and an osteopath would only train for half a day. They would then be qualified to give ‘Medical’ acupuncture treatments. Obviously the ‘treatment’ they would give you would be considerably inferior to, and would not in any way resemble, the treatment that a properly qualified TCM acupuncturist would give you. If you have ever received Medical acupuncture, or intend to have it in the future, you should not expect the ‘treatments’ to have any of the healing qualities that I talk about on this web site.

Acupuncturists who are properly trained in TCM acupuncture would normally be a member of either BRCP (British Register of Complimentary Practitioners) or BAcC (British Acupuncture Council). I am a member of BRCP, which I greatly prefer to BAcC, since it is much less ‘in bed’ with Western medicine.

There are also other forms of acupuncture, such as Five Element acupuncture. These other forms have some similarities to TCM acupuncture, but they use a different approach to diagnosis and to the treatment itself. I, personally, favour pure TCM acupuncture and believe that it is superior. I have also studied Five Element Constitutional acupuncture, and I do sometimes use elements of this approach in my treatments, when appropriate.