Image by Boemski [flickr.com/ggvic]. License https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

Benefits of Acupuncture

Acupuncture benefits muscles, skeletal alignment, emotions, hormones, and circulation. These health aspects respond to adjustments made to body tension by acupuncture. This includes tension in the neuroendocrine system, related to stress.

Because acupuncture treats the tension involved in disease processes, it is effective for many complaints.

It has been highlighted by the National Institute of Health (NIH) [6] or the World Health Organization (WHO) [7], or both, for treating the conditions listed alphabetically below. You may also keep up to date on current scientific evidence on acupuncture here.

• This list does not include all conditions that acupuncture treats. If your condition is unlisted, please call Carl at (619) 994-2119 since you may still benefit from acupuncture.

• • Additions, allergies, anxiety, asthma
  • Biliary colic, bronchitis
  • Cancer (side effects of chemo, radiation), carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS), chronic fatigue, colitis, common cold, constipation
  • Depression, diarrhea, dizziness, dysentery
  • Eye problems
  • Fibromyalgia
  • Gastritis, gingivitis
  • Headache, heart disease, hiccough, hypertension, hypotension
  • Incontinence, indigestion, infertility, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS)
  • Labor difficulty, leukopenia
  • Malposition of fetus (breech baby), menopause, menstrual irregularities, migraine, morning sickness
  • Nausea
  • Osteoarthritis
  • Pain, peptic ulcer, periarthritis of the shoulder, premenstrual syndrome (PMS), pneumonia
  • Renal colic, rheumatoid arthritis
  • Sciatica, seasonal affective disorder (SAD), sinusitis, sleep disturbances, sore throat, sprain, stress, stroke
  • Tennis elbow, tonsilitis, trigeminal neuralgia
  • Urinary tract infection (UTI)
  • Vomiting

Evidence-Based Medicine

Acupuncture benefits are increasingly recognized by Western institutions guided by evidence-based medicine. EBM uses scientific, randomized, controlled trials (RCTs) to validate the efficacy and safety of treatments.

Evidence-based medicine is a great step towards integration and broader acceptance of acupuncture. However, it is an incomplete assessment of acupuncture benefits. More insight on the healing value of acupuncture is gained from translational science, mentioned in this blog post evaluating Chinese medicine.

Similar to limiting the understanding of herbal efficacy by testing isolated chemicals, it is hard to fully define the value of acupuncture based solely on the reductionist method of RCTs. This is where translational medicine adds value. It still employs scientific rigor. But its scope is broader, not only accounting for the relationships between all systems within the body but also the relationship between patients and the culture of healthcare.