Acupuncture is one of the longest established forms of healthcare in the world. Acupuncturists are trained to use subtle diagnostic techniques that have been developed and refined for thousands of years, such as looking at the patients tongue and taking the pulse. The focus is on you as an individual, not your illness, and all symptoms are seen in relation to each other.

Treatment involves the insertion of very fine sterilised needles into specific points on the body to affect the flow of your body’s qi, or vital energy. There are over 500 hundred acupuncture points that can be chosen, and don’t necessarily correspond directly to an area you have chosen to be treated. For example, if you have pain in your knee, local points will be used, but distal points on the foot or above the knee may also be chosen as the channels run through the knee to other parts of the body.

As well as using needles, other techniques may also be used to help support the treatment. These may include moxibustion, cupping, the use of an electro machine, heat lamp, massage, gua sha (skin scrapping) and diet and lifestyle advice.

Many people are anxious on their first acupuncture session as they don’t know what to expect. I always work hard to put you at ease. I use very fine, good quality needles and a gentle needling technique.

The World Health Organisation recommends the following diseases and disorders that can be treated with acupuncture, to name but a few:

Acne

Alcohol dependence

Allergic rhinitis (including hay fever)

Bell’s palsy

Depression

Dysmenorrhoea

Fibromyalgia

Headache

Hypertension

Hypotension

Induction of labour

Insomnia

Knee pain

Lactation deficiency

Lower back pain

Meniere’s

Nausea and vomiting

Osteoarthritis

PCOS

Premenstrual syndrome

Recurrent urinary tract infections

Rheumatoid arthritis

Sciatica

Sprain

Stiff neck

Tabacco dependence

Tennis elbow

Ulcerative colitis