How does medical acupuncture work?

On a local level, the acupuncture needles improve symptoms of discomfort by relaxing the muscle, increasing blood flow and promoting a healing response through finely targeted treatment.

When looking at the system-wide effect of acupuncture, the modern scientific explanation is that acupuncture stimulates the central nervous system. This encourages an increase in the body’s own naturally occurring painkillers (eg endorphin and serotonin) in the pain pathways of both the spinal cord and brain. This modifies the way pain signals are received and therefore there is a decrease in pain.


What can medical acupuncture treat?

At the Perrymount Clinic Chris often uses medical acupuncture as an adjunct to our osteopathic treatment. It is effective treating a range of painful conditions and is commonly used for short-term relief of chronic lower back pain and neck pain, and can help with the management of knee pain caused by osteoarthritis.

There is good evidence that it is effective in the short-term relief of tension type headaches and migraines, and of temporomandibular (non-dental) joint pain (jaw pain).

It may also be beneficial for:

· generalised musculoskeletal pain, eg shoulder pain
· Trapped nerves, muscle strains and spasms, various kinds of arthritic and rheumatic pain
· sciatica without loss of muscle power or reflexes
· sports injuries including some tendinopathies and enthesopathies, eg tennis elbow and achilles tendonitis

Some people also report feeling revitalised, and of course relaxed, after acupuncture treatment.

Remember, if you are unsure whether medical acupuncture can help your particular issue, you can always talk to Chris at the Perrymount.

Is acupuncture painful? What if I don’t like needles?

If you don’t like the idea of acupuncture, we won’t use acupuncture – it’s as simple as that.

However, medical acupuncture needles are very different from normal hypodermic needle injections. The acupuncture needles Chris uses have a maximum diameter of 0.22mm, a bit bigger than a human hair, and are therefore not comparable to an injection.

Patients often don't even feel the insertion of a needle. An involuntary muscle twitch response may be felt, and sometimes a dull tension or pressure building around the point of insertion. A full consultation will always be taken beforehand to establish any contraindications to treatment.