Acupuncture Q&A

Acupuncture is just one branch in the Chinese Medicine Tree. For over 5,000 years Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine have treated the Eastern World for many ailments. According to the World Health Organization Acupuncture has been found to be proven effective for the following conditions:

• low back pain
• neck pain
• sciatica
• tennis elbow
• knee pain
• periarthritis of the shoulder
• sprains
• facial pain (including craniomandibular disorders)
• headache
• dental pain
• temporomandibular (TMJ) dysfunction
• rheumatoid arthritis
• induction of labor
• correction of malposition of fetus (breech presentation)
• morning sickness
• nausea and vomiting
• postoperative pain
• stroke
• essential hypertension
• primary hypotension
• renal colic
• leucopenia
• adverse reactions to radiation or chemotherapy
• allergic rhinitis, including hay fever
• biliary colic
• depression (including depressive neurosis and depression following stroke)
• acute bacillary dysentery
• primary dysmenorrhea
• acute epigastralgia
• peptic ulcer
• acute and chronic gastritis

Results from a number of studies suggest that acupuncture may help ease types of pain that are often chronic such as low-back pain, neck pain, and osteoarthritis/knee pain. It also may help reduce the frequency of tension headaches and prevent migraine headaches. Therefore, acupuncture appears to be a reasonable option for people with chronic pain to consider. 

The effects of acupuncture on the brain and body and how best to measure them are only beginning to be understood. Current evidence suggests that many factors—like expectation and belief—that are unrelated to acupuncture needling may play important roles in the beneficial effects of acupuncture on pain.

• Clinical practice guidelines issued by the American Pain Society and the American College of Physicians in 2007 recommend acupuncture as one of several non-drug approaches physicians should consider when patients with chronic low-back pain do not respond to self-care (practices that people can do by themselves, such as remaining active, applying heat, and taking pain-relieving medications).
• A 2012 analysis of data on participants in acupuncture studies looked at back and neck pain together and found that actual acupuncture was more helpful than either no acupuncture or simulated acupuncture.
• A major 2012 analysis of data on participants in acupuncture studies found that actual acupuncture was more helpful for osteoarthritis pain than simulated acupuncture or no acupuncture.
• A 2012 analysis of data on individual participants in acupuncture studies looked at migraine and tension headaches. The analysis showed that actual acupuncture was more effective than either no acupuncture or simulated acupuncture in reducing headache frequency or severity.

• Relatively few complications from using acupuncture have been reported. Still, complications have resulted from use of nonsterile needles and improper delivery of treatments.
• When not delivered properly, acupuncture can cause serious adverse effects, including infections, punctured organs, collapsed lungs, and injury to the central nervous system.