What Conditions Can Acupuncture Help You With?

Acupuncture as a practice has been used for thousands of years, initially originating in China ‘3000 years ago’.

If you’re not familiar with how acupuncture works, it is practised by ‘penetrating the skin with thin, solid, metallic needles which are then activated through gentle and specific movements’ carried out by the practitioner.

There are numerous conditions that acupuncture can help you with. These conditions include, but are not limited to:

1. Anxiety
2. Lower back pain
3. Insomnia
4. Chronic pain 
5. Headaches 

1. Anxiety

Firstly, acupuncture can help with anxiety. Anxiety is caused by a number of things, going hand in hand with depression and impacting a staggering 8 million people in the UK.

Anxiety is characterised by persistent fear, resulting in numerous debilitating symptoms for many people. This can make day to day life both challenging and overwhelming if you don’t take the necessary steps to help manage your anxiety. 

The majority of studies that have researched the effects of acupuncture on anxiety have predominantly focused on generalised anxiety disorder, showing that acupuncture therapy has beneficial effects in reducing anxiety in patients with GAD.

The great thing about treating anxiety with acupuncture is that it’s natural. This means that you can experience relief from your anxiety without the side effects of traditional anti-anxiety medications, such as headaches, feeling sick, and insomnia to name a few.

As such, if you’re struggling and are looking for a more natural way of treating your anxiety, then acupuncture could be the answer.  

2. Lower Back Pain

Acupuncture is also used to help treat lower back pain. Lower back pain is highly common, and is largely caused by ‘straining muscles, tendons, or ligaments’ in the back.

Acupuncture can help to ease lower back pain by inserting needles into the patient’s body at numerous pressure points. Effectively relieving chronic lower back pain, several reviews highlight that acupuncture ‘provides short-term improvements in pain and function for chronic LBP’.

That said, the evidence didn’t suggest that acupuncture is more effective than other active therapies.

At Fox Chiropractic, our trained practitioners are trained in chiropractic care and massage therapy, offering a variety of techniques including dry needling acupuncture. 

If you’re struggling with back pain and are interested in acupuncture treatment, be sure to get in touch with a friendly member of our team.

3. Insomnia

Insomnia impacts more people than you might initially think. In fact, according to The NHS, a ‘third of Brits will have episodes of insomnia at some point’.

There is significant research to support the benefits of acupuncture and the idea that it improves sleep quality and alleviates symptoms associated with insomnia.  

In a study carried out in 2017, researchers found 72 patients with insomnia and split them into two groups: the acupuncture group that received legitimate acupuncture treatment, and the control group that received ‘sham acupuncture treatment’.

The study found that whilst both groups experienced improvements in their sleep, acupuncture treatment was more effective at improving the patients sleep quality.

If you’re struggling with your sleep and are looking for an alternative treatment to sleep medication, then acupuncture might be able to help.

4. Chronic Pain 

Acupuncture has also been known to help treat chronic pain. Some patients seek alternative methods for their chronic pain when traditional medication has fallen short, which is where acupuncture can come in.

For instance, a study carried out in 2012 involved giving patients fake treatments, acupuncture treatments, and no treatments. 

This particular study found that out of the 17,922 people with chronic pain, those who received acupuncture treatments experienced a 50% improvement in issues related to their chronic pain.

If you’re looking for a way to manage your chronic pain, chiropractic care has been ‘shown to help in managing or alleviating chronic pain without the use of drugs or surgery’.

That said, if you’re struggling with chronic pain, it’s important to seek advice from your doctor on what they would recommend to help manage your condition. 

5. Headaches 

Last, but not least, acupuncture can help with headaches. Headaches are something that many of us experience from time to time, particularly as they’re a common ailment often caused by dehydration and screen time. 

That said, for some, headaches can be debilitating, impacting their quality of life, developing into migraines and becoming a bigger problem if left untreated.

Acupuncture can help headaches in that it can release endorphins, triggering a response from your body. As such, ‘this immune and circulation system stimulation is what proponents of acupuncture claim relieves migraines and tension headaches’.

If you’re someone that struggles with consistent headaches, and don’t want to keep relying on painkillers, then alternative therapies such as acupuncture and massage therapy might be a more permanent solution.

We are Fox Chiropractic: specialists in the diagnosis and treatment of musculoskeletal injury or pain. For more information about the services we provide, check out our website or get in touch to speak to a friendly member of the team on 07540 942 448 /  info@foxchiropractic.co.uk.

Written by Jemima Thomas for Fox Chiropractic.