What does Acupuncture Treat?

I love going to talks and holding up the Merck manual and saying if it's in here, acupuncture will treat it.

Acupuncture can offer some relief, at least symptomatically for virtually any condition. It can help with the side effects of the medications given for many conditions. It can even cure some conditions.

The National Institutes of Health recognize acupuncture's efficacy for pain caused by low back pain. They also recognize acupuncture's efficacy for the nausea caused by pregnancy and chemotherapy. Further, they are interested enough in acupuncture to further studies on a variety of conditions including headaches, migraines, and the fatigue caused by chemotherapy.

Bastyr University in Seattle Washington has a doctoral program in acupuncture that has acupuncturists working in clinics beside Western medical doctors working with cancer patients. Through this program both acupuncturists and medical doctors are learning how the healing methods of Asia and the healing methods of the west can work together for the benefit of the patient. It is not an either or choice.

Internationally, the World Health Organization recognizes acupuncture for use in over 40 different health conditions, including all types of pain, headaches, migraines, women's health conditions (yes that is considered *1* condition by the WHO), stress and trauma.

Acupuncture is also very effective working with people on long term chronic conditions that require a number of different medications. Typically acupuncture can at least help with the symptoms of a condition and if not that, it can help the person dealing with the side effects of the medications that are helping the condition.

Many people ask if acupuncture can "cure" a condition. It's a question that makes me uncomfortable. As a responsible health care provider, I am hesitant to say yes, although I hear that sort of talk a lot, where practitioners promise a cure to things like diabetes or certain types of cancer. While I don't want to fall into that practice, given that I understand the connection between the mind and body, I also hesitate to say no. I hedge this answer by telling people that many people have been helped and often they become asymptomatic for months between having problems.

If your body wants to heal itself, it will. Acupuncture can help.

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