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  • Q&A with Australian Health Practitioners

    What is acupuncture used for?

    Related Topic
    Pain
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    Katika Funnell

    Acupuncturist

    I'm an AHPRA registered Doctor of Chinese Medicine. An Acupuncturist & Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) Practitioner in private practice since 2003. My Acupuncture technique combines … View Profile

    I'm a registered Acupuncturist and have been reviewing the research on what Acupuncture is used for and the evidence for another project. This came from the World Health Organisation website. I thought this might help you:

    The World Health Organisation reports efficacy for Acupuncture with the following areas:
    ·      Pain relief
    ·      Infection management
    ·      Movement and function of the body
    Ref: apps.who.int/medicinedocs/en/d/Js4926e/3.6.html
     
    The WHO therefore concludes acupuncture is effective for specific conditions, such as:
    ·      Adverse reactions to radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy

    ·      Allergic rhinitis (including hay fever)

    ·      Biliary colic

    ·      Depression (including depressive neurosis and depression following stroke)

    ·      Dysentery, acute bacillary

    ·      Dysmenorrhoea,
    ·      primary
Epigastralgia, acute (in peptic ulcer, acute and chronic gastritis, and gastrospasm)

    ·      Facial pain (including craniomandibular disorders)

    ·      Headache

    ·      Hypertension,
    ·      essential
Hypotension,
    ·      primary
Induction of labour

    ·      Knee pain

    ·      Leukopenia

    ·      Low back pain

    ·      Malposition of fetus,
    ·      correction of
Morning sickness

    ·      Nausea and vomiting

    ·      Neck pain

    ·      Pain in dentistry (including dental pain and temporomandibular dysfunction)

    ·      Periarthritis of shoulder

    ·      Postoperative pain

    ·      Renal colic

    ·      Rheumatoid arthritis

    ·      Sciatica

    ·      Sprain

    ·      Stroke

    ·      Tennis elbow

    To my understanding the WHO bases its decisions on what Acupuncture can be used for by the clinical evidence they find.
    Clinical research on Acupuncture has continued since the 1970’s and has discovered that acupuncture:
    ·      Directly influences the Immune, Hormonal and Nervous systems and their physiologies.
    ·      Stimulates Endorphin release to block pain
    ·      Stimulates Opioid receptors to relieve pain
    ·      Stimulates the Autonomic Nervous System to produce anti-inflammatory effects
    ·      Stimulates Serotonin release which has an analgesic effect
    Ref: Acupuncture analgesia: a review of its mechanisms of actions.
    Lin JG, Chen WL. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. (2012)
    Probable mechanisms of needling therapies for myofascial pain control. Chou LW, Kao MJ, Lin JG.

    In my experience the majority of clients use Acupuncture for Pain Management, Sports Injuries and Recovery. I have several clients that also use acupuncture for Fertility support and enhancement. I hope this helps

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    Steven Orloff

    Acupuncturist

    My name is Steven Orloff, I am a practitioner of Traditional Chinese Acupuncture. I am a graduate of both Monash and Victoria University, having degrees … View Profile

    Acupuncture may be used for a whole range of symptoms from stress, to pain relief and hay fever.

    Chinese Medicine evolved in the opposite way to western medicine, it views the person as the primary, and anything take occurs within as disharmony that needs to be rebalanced. They spent centuries working out how everything in the body works together and relates, therefore tracing illness and disease is simply to work backwards within that model.  This is why Chinese Medicine has such a broad field of symptoms it can treat, and largely too why its theories and methods are so hard to prove in a Western Medical framework.  As from the ground up they are almost polar opposites, one medicine designed for the individual, the other for the masses.

    This does not mean that it is in any way superior to western medicine.  On the contrary, if you look at the areas in which both medicines excel and suffer, you'll see they fill each other’s gaps very well.

    Hope that helps.
    Steve


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