Frequently Asked Acupuncture Questions

How many treatments will you need?
The number of treatments depends on the type of condition and its duration. For some conditions, one treatment provides rapid and lasting relief. Most acute conditions require a few treatments. Chronic conditions typically require a series of treatments. Some conditions need one to two treatments per week until the condition has reached a certain level of improvement and a positive response has been experienced. For many people beginning acupuncture treatments, symptom relief begins immediately and lasts from a few hours to a few days. In other cases, symptom relief is not always immediate and may require a period of one to three days for the positive effects to be noted. In less than 5% of the cases, an aggravation of symptoms will occur within the first 24 hours. It is important to let the patient know this is a good sign, for the aggravation will subside in usually 24 hours and the symptoms will be significantly improved. Acupuncture treatments are cumulative in that you normally need a series of treatments to have lasting effect. For wellness and preventative care, one treatment a month or one treatment each season may be recommended.
What is acupuncture and oriental medicine?
Acupuncture has been used and studied throughout the world for more than 2,000 years. According to Acupuncture and Oriental Medical Theory, qi circulates through a network of channels in our body called meridians. This energetic flow through the body is considered essential for health and disruptions of this flow are believed to be responsible for disease and illness .Together with qi, blood and other vital nutrients circulate through these meridians to nourish our bones, muscles, tissues, and organ systems. Often emotional trauma, physical trauma or poor dietary/lifestyle choices will cause obstructions in the meridians. Stimulating acupuncture points unblock these obstructions which invigorates the flow of qi and blood to activate the body's own natural healing abilities to create an environment for optimal health, healing and mental well being.
Are there side effects with acupuncture?
Typically there are no or minimal side effects.
What conditions will acupuncture treat?
In 2003, the World Health Organization published a landmark study, titled "Acupuncture: Review and Analysis of Reports on Controlled Clinical Trials." A summary of their findings is quoted below.

1. Diseases, symptoms or conditions for which acupuncture has been proved-through controlled trials-to be an effective treatment:

  • 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
  • Hypo tension, primary
  • Induction of labor
  • 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

2. Diseases, symptoms or conditions for which the therapeutic effect of acupuncture has been shown but for which further proof is needed:

  • Abdominal pain (in acute gastroenteritis or due to gastrointestinal spasm)
  • Acne vulgaris
  • Alcohol dependence and detoxification
  • Bell's palsy
  • Bronchial asthma
  • Cancer pain
  • Cardiac neurosis
  • Cholecystitis, chronic, with acute exacerbation
  • Cholelithiasis
  • Competition stress syndrome
  • Craniocerebral injury, closed
  • Diabetes mellitus, non-insulin-dependent
  • Earache
  • Epidemic haemorrhagic fever
  • Epistaxis, simple (without generalized or local disease)
  • Eye pain due to subconjunctival injection
  • Female infertility
  • Facial spasm
  • Female urethral syndrome
  • Fibromyalgia and fasciitis
  • Gastrokinetic disturbance
  • Gouty arthritis
  • Hepatitis B virus carrier status
  • Herpes zoster (human (alpha) herpesvirus 3)
  • Hyperlipaemia
  • Hypo-ovarianism
  • Insomnia
  • Labour pain
  • Lactation, deficiency
  • Male sexual dysfunction, non-organic
  • Ménière disease
  • Neuralgia, post-herpetic
  • Neurodermatitis
  • Obesity
  • Opium, cocaine and heroin dependence
  • Osteoarthritis
  • Pain due to endoscopic examination
  • Pain in thromboangiitis obliterans
  • Polycystic ovary syndrome (Stein-Leventhal syndrome)
  • Postextubation in children
  • Postoperative convalescence
  • Premenstrual syndrome
  • Prostatitis, chronic
  • Pruritus
  • Radicular and pseudoradicular pain syndrome
  • Raynaud syndrome, primary
  • Recurrent lower urinary-tract infection
  • Reflex sympathetic dystrophy
  • Retention of urine, traumatic
  • Schizophrenia
  • Sialism, drug-induced
  • Sjögren syndrome
  • Sore throat (including tonsillitis)
  • Spine pain, acute
  • Stiff neck
  • Temporomandibular joint dysfunction
  • Tietze syndrome
  • Tobacco dependence
  • Tourette syndrome
  • Ulcerative colitis, chronic
  • Urolithiasis
  • Vascular dementia
  • Whooping cough (pertussis)

3. 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:

  • Chloasma
  • Choroidopathy, central serous
  • Colour blindness
  • Deafness
  • Hypophrenia
  • Irritable colon syndrome
  • Neuropathic bladder in spinal cord injury
  • Pulmonary heart disease, chronic
  • Small airway obstruction