WHO Acupuncture and The NIH Consensus Study 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. Diseases and disorders that can be treated with acupuncture.

The diseases or disorders for which acupuncture therapy has been tested in controlled clinical trials reported in the recent literature can be classified into four categories as shown below.

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
• Hypotension, primary
• Induction of labour
• 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

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)

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

Cupping

ANY CELEBRITY FANS?

• Gwyneth Paltrow, Donna Air and Sadie Frost have all been spotted with the tell-tale cupping marks on their backs.

WHY DO THEY DO IT?

• Cupping is designed to draw out toxins to enhance the body’s sense of well being.

THE SCIENCE BIT…

• An ancient form of acupuncture, the treatment involves the use of small, rounded glass cups. A vacuum is created inside the cup by inserting a flame, removing it and then placing the cup quickly onto the back. The suction anchors the cup to the body, drawing out toxins from the lymph glands.

SO WHAT HAPPENS?

• The Acupuncturist examines the tongue and checks your pulse to assess the energy flow in your body. You then lay face down as the practitioner places the cups onto the back. As the air in the glass begins to cool down, a vacuum, which pulls out the toxins, is created. The glass cups can be left on the body for 15 minutes or moved around.

DOES IT HURT?

• The procedure is surprisingly pain free. The warming sensation of the cups on the back is quite relaxing. It is recommended that cupping be used in conjunction with other acupuncture therapies.

The National Institutes of Health panel members said “the evidence is “clear cut” that acupuncture is valuable in treating postoperative and chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting, nausea in pregnancy, and postoperative dental pain.

Depending on the duration, severity, and nature of the complaint. Generally from ten to twenty treatments are adequate for the majority of chronic disorders. Some acute conditions may only require a single treatment and some degenerative conditions may require as many as 20 treatments.

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