Acupuncture

Acupuncture is a practise or treatment of disease or pain by inserting fine filiform needles into specific points on the body. This traditional medical technique originated in China and is most commonly associated with Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), which aims to relieve pain and is commonly used for therapeutic purposes.

Acupuncture comes in different styles which are all practised worldwide: these are Classical Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, Tibetan, and Japanese acupuncture. Though the effects of acupuncture are not well understood by Western medicine, it has been noted that acupuncture can cure patients with migraine. It has also better patient outcomes and fewer side effects than prophylactic drug treatment. According to Professor Edzard Ernst (Complementary Medicine), acupuncture is effective but not in all conditions. On the other hand, the American Academy of Medical Acupuncture states that acupuncture can be considered as a complementary therapy for health conditions such as acute and chronic pain. In a review of Cochrane in 2005, it is stated that acupuncture is an effective pain reliever for chronic low back pain. Another review (2008) suggests that acupuncture, when combined with conventional infertility treatments, such as IVF, proves a success in such medical interventions. These are some of the illnesses in which acupuncture is a proven effective cure: allergic rhinitis, nausea and vomiting, depression, dysentery, dysmenorrhoea, neck pain, facial pain, renal colic, rheumatoid arthritis, sprain, stroke, headache, knee pain, and hypertension.

Acupuncture is considered as one of the most efficient medical practises even in our modern age.