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 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

• There are many other conditions that respond very well to acupuncture, but for which the research simply has not caught up yet.

 

How does Acupuncture Work?

I don't think anyone knows the complete answer to this question yet. We do understand several different mechanisms of acupuncture, but there are almost certainly mechanisms that we don't fully understand yet.  Some of the mechanisms for how acupuncture works that we do know about are: 

• Stimulates the release of endorphins to regulate pain

• Fascial planes

• Has systemic and complex effects on the central nervous system

• Growth Control Theory of Acupuncture