Entries in Perth (11)

Monday
May152017

1. What is Acupuncture?

Acupuncture is a holistic health technique that stems from Traditional Chinese Medicine practices in which trained practitioners stimulate specific points on the body by inserting fine needles into the skin. Each point is located on an energy channel called meridians which relates to a specific organ of the body. The insertion of the needles is said to unblock the channels thus allowing energy to move freely. This helps restore balance to the body. 

Acupuncture is used to treat a range of conditions including anxiety, back pain, depression,  fertility and infertility, migraine, sciatica and stress. Acupuncture is also used extensively in preventative health treatments.

Monday
May152017

2. What are the benefits of using Acupuncture?

There are many benefits of using Acupuncture. Acupuncture is used to:

  • Provide drug-free pain relief
  • Effectively treat a wide range of acute and chronic ailments
  • Treat the underlying cause of disease and illness as well as the symptoms
  • Provide an holistic approach to the treatment of disease and illness, linking body, mind and emotions
  • Achieves auto-healing ability of the body
  • Boosts the immune system and functions
Tuesday
May162017

3. What does Acupuncture treat?

The World Health Organisation categorises acupuncture therapy into 4 categories:

1. Diseases for which acupuncture may be considered mainstream treatment: (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 and Migraine
  • 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

2. Diseases for which acupuncture is effective, but further proof is needed to include it into mainstream healthcare: (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 (most effective in children and in patients without complicating diseases)
  • 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 for which acupuncture is worth trying, because the treatment by western medicine is difficult:  (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

4. Diseases, symptoms or conditions for which acupuncture may be tried provided the practitioner has special modern medical knowledge and adequate monitoring equipment:

  • Breathlessness in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
  • Coma
  • Convulsions in infants
  • Coronary heart disease (angina pectoris)
  • Diarrhoea in infants and young children
  • Encephalitis, viral, in children, late stage
  • Paralysis, progressive bulbar and pseudobulbar

References:

World Health Organisation: Acupuncture: Review and Analysis of Reports on Controlled Clinical Trials 2002

Tuesday
May162017

4. What should I expect from the initial visit?

As with all first visits to a medical practitioner or health care service provider there are some things we are going to need to know before we can begin to support you.

We will ask about your medical history, current medications and any problems or illnesses you are currently experiencing. 

This is followed by a pulse and tongue diagnosis. There is a reason why we ask you to stick out your tongue. Your tongue gives us a good insight into what is currently happening in your body.

Once we have this information we will be able to provide a comprehensive diagnosis and treatment plan designed specifically for you.

Treatment we may recommend includes acupuncture, traditional chinese herbal medicine, preventative health care, life style changes and suggestions for beneficial foods and exercise.

Expect to spend around 30 minutes with us during this phase of getting to know you.

Tuesday
May162017

5. What is a course of treatment?

Your course of treatment is discussed during your initial consultation and is designed to restore the natural balance of energy inside your body. In addition to acupuncture, your course of treatment may use complementary practices such as:

  • Chinese Herbal Medicine – is prepared specifically for you and your course of treatment. As your treatment progresses, herbal remedies will be adjusted to meet your body’s changing needs. Our clinical herbal medicine is pills or powder, there is no preparation required (you are not given the natural raw hers to boil for instance).
  • Tuina or Tui Na remedial massage – Tui na is a hands-on body treatment that uses Chinese taoist principles in an effort to bring the 8 principles of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) into balance.
  • Gua Sha – this traditional chinese medical treatment “scrapes away fever” and is designed to release unhealthy elements from treatment areas which in turn stimulates blood flow and healing.
  • Cupping - suction is designed to bring blood to the acupuncture point which speeds healing.     
  • Moxibustion – Used in conjuction with acupuncture to warm regions and specific meridian points which stimulates circulation producing a smoother flow of blood and qi. 

As your treatment progresses your practitioner will discuss your progress and may suggest lifestyle choices to retain your body’s natural balance.