What Does Acupuncture Treat?
February 1, 2020
One of the most common questions that I get asked as an acupuncturist is, “What can acupuncture treat?”. This is a simple and complicated question to answer.
In the Western world that we live in, with all the legality issues surrounding what a medical profession can actually claim to treat, acupuncturists boast an impressive list, but we are limited at the same time. Lets start out with what the World Health Organization states that acupuncture can treat (aka: what has been shown through controlled trials to be treated effectively by acupuncture):
- 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
These are what we can claim. This list does not include the extensive list of diseases, symptoms or conditions for which the therapeutic effect of acupuncture has been shown, but for which further proof is needed (WAY too many to mention here, please see the link below for the list). The above list also does not account for diseases, symptoms or conditions for which there are only individual controlled trials reporting some therapeutic effects, but for which acupuncture is worth trying because treatment by conventional and other therapies is difficult (again, check the link for the list).
Another factor affecting what we can claim to treat is undeniably linked to financing. Acupuncture does not by any means have the funding that other forms of medicine have access to. This lack of backing limits the amount, type and duration of studies that are able to make it to trial. I may be biased, but the scales don’t appear to be balanced.
Now….here is the stuff that Oriental Medical Practitioners want you to know!
Oriental medicine is based upon nature and its ebbs and flows to maintain balance. Yin and Yang. Simple, right? Keep reading.
Consider what is currently happening on our planet. (Just to be clear, my purpose of this is to explain how Oriental Medicine looks at approaching a person, not to step on a soap box about my opinions.) The temperature of the earth is going up. Because of this one factor, the icebergs are melting, there are huge fires happening all over and the implications of these things are numerous. Think of all that is being affected by this one change! The natural balance has been disrupted. The body is not any different. If your temperature goes up, your blood pressure can go up, you can get hives on your body, you may get dizzy and pass out, or you may get easily angered to name a few.
Now, contemplate all the factors that have caused the temperature of the planet to go up: driving our cars, landfills, cow “emissions”, the loss of rainforests, etc. Each ONE thing we do is contributing to something BIG that has REAL consequences! Imagine all the things that cause the temperature in your body to go up; the temperature outside, getting emotionally “worked up”, drinking too much coffee, vigorous exercise, etc.
Next, examine all the systems that can become imbalanced in your body: temperature, how much fluid we have circulating in us, each individual organ system, our adrenals, hormones, our thoughts, the emotions that they create and how our bodies physically respond to them, stress, and SO many more. This is how an Oriental Medical practitioner approaches each person they treat. Now you can see that we may have a lot of work to do, right?!
So, you ask, “What can acupuncture treat?”. Well, I can legally tell you that it can treat the conditions on the above list.
The question that you may want to ask is, “What conditions can acupuncture help with?”.
My answer to you is that it can help the body become more balanced, which in turn can affect multiple “conditions” that you may be experiencing.
How acupuncture helps the body become more balanced is another topic entirely. We will touch on that another time.
This post may leave your head spinning as you try to grasp all these aspects. I know mine was spinning as I learned about all of this. I hope it makes you email me with your questions! I hope it gets you excited to know that we can approach a variety of conditions big and small! I hope it gives you hope about yourself and those that you care about who may be suffering.
One last note. You know when you feel “off”, or something “doesn’t feel right” but you can’t get a diagnosis, and all lab tests show that nothing is wrong with you? This is exactly what Oriental Medicine is talking about with preventative medicine. Your body is talking to you, you’re trying to listen, but you don’t know what to do about it. Let’s address this “feeling” before it becomes something that may be serious!
I can’t wait to help you become more balanced!