This ancient treatment is often used for pain relief and other problems such as morning sickness and stress.
The needles used in this clinic are single-use sterile needles, which are immediately thrown away after each treatment. Over the last 20 years, I have practised acupuncture with this type of needle, and have had no reports of infection, bleeding, or other side effects.
Not everyone responds to Acupuncture. About 30% of the population do not respond at all.
Of the other 70% who are helped by Acupuncture, most will respond slowly, with increased benefit after each treatment.
A small percentage will receive almost immediate response, and in some occasions, one treatment is enough. Others may find that their symptoms are initially made worse by Acupuncture treatment; however, there is usually a response over the next two to three days, to give improvement in symptoms.
Possible side effects of treatment include bleeding, pain, feeling tired, or, occasionally, feeling a natural ‘high’.
The amount of treatments varies from person to person - occasionally, as mentioned above, a single treatment is enough - but more usually, it would take a course of three to six treatments.
For more chronic illnesses, the interval between treatments may be two to three weeks, and the treatment continued for some months. For more acute illnesses, the treatment interval can be a few days to a week.
Usually, a response is noted within the first two to three treatments. I do not continue treatment after the first three or four consultations unless there is a subjective improvement noted by the patient (they may be in the 30% of the population who do not respond).
As each individual is different, so the response can be different. There have been reports of death due to acupuncture treatment, but this is exceedingly rare, and if it happens, occurs in the hands of inexperienced acupuncturists.
Problems which can be helped include -
- Back Pain
- Stiffness in Muscles and joints
- Headaches
- Osteoarthritis
- Tension
- Neck Pain
- Shoulder Pain
- Neuralgia
- Morning Sickness
- Stress.
