What is acupuncture?
Acupuncture is an ancient system of medicine. The earliest acupuncture books were written over 2000 years ago and today, worldwide, there are over three million practitioners. Acupuncture began with the discovery that stimulating certain areas of the skin affected functioning of specific organs. It evolved into a system of healing as the connection between the skin and organs was better understood and more sensitive ways of stimulation were devised. In the West acupuncture has been misleadingly publicised as being good only for specific conditions, for example pain or weight loss. In fact, it is effective for a variety of conditions due to its power to stimulate our own healing response. This overall therapeutic effect is one of its great strengths.
What can acupuncture help?
Many people come to acupuncture for help with a specific symptom or condition, for example: anxiety states, arthritis, asthma, joint pain or weakness, circulatory problems, depression, facial paralysis, fibrositis, high blood pressure, indeterminate aches and pains, infertility, menstrual problems, ME, migraines, psychological disorders, rheumatism, sciatica, tiredness, ulcers or urinary problems. Practice and research over many years has shown acupuncture's effectiveness in helping these and many other conditions. For more information look at the section on illnesses treated.
The effect of good acupuncture, however, is to do more than simply cure symptoms. Diagnosis and treatment will be focused on the person and their constitution as well as their symptoms. As a result, the patient will also feel better in a general way. Hence the frequent comment, 'I'm feeling better in myself ' which refers to such things as increased energy and vitality, greater enjoyment of life, greater confidence, better sleep and a more normal appetite. Acupuncture can treat people who have no labelled complaint, but who, nevertheless feel 'not right' as evidenced by physical, mental or spiritual distress. Acupuncture diagnosis goes to the root cause of the problem and does not focus on individual symptoms or physical symptoms at the expense of mental or spiritual malaise. A typical result of such treatment is that the patients feel better in themselves: abilities, talents or areas of life which the person has put to one side become activated and people shed limitations and break new ground, whether in their personal lives, relationships, families or work. Frequently, they also find that an apparently unrelated group of symptoms improve as well.
Focusing treatment on the person, rather than the disease, is appropriate when a person feels unwell in themselves, but does not have the kind of complaint, physical or otherwise, which allows them to present themselves as ' sick ' - indeed, based on medical checks, they may have been told there is nothing wrong. It is also appropriate for people who are aware that before any symptoms appear, there is a gradual deterioration in energy - these people come for preventative treatment which is aimed at maintaining health and feeling even better. Of course, the dividing line between having some labelled condition, feeling unwell, and feeling just a ' bit off' is not precise.
How is a diagnosis carried out?
A person's energy is distributed through 12 energy pathways. Each pathway is associated with an organ and for each organ there are a variety of patterns of energy imbalance-these are called syndromes. When diagnosing, you practitioner will look for the syndrome which reflects your constitutional type as well as the one which underlies your specific complaint.
Syndromes are recognised by a combination of signs and symptoms. Examples of ' signs ' are facial colour, sound in the voice, distribution of heat and cold, typical emotional state, and pulse and tongue. Pulse and tongue diagnosis are two special diagnostic techniques unique to Oriental Medicine. ' Symptoms ' are your complaints and also the descriptions of how your body is functioning: how you sleep, the quality of your appetite, the dryness of skin, whether you feel the cold, etc.
Treatment
Treatment is the process of re-establishing the energy balance. This is done in two ways. One is the insertion of fine, stainless steel needles into acupuncture points, by the stimulating or reducing the flow of energy in a specific pathway. The other is the application of warmth to the acupuncture point. These methods are often used in combination. As the balance improves, health improves.
On your initial visit I will gather information on your symptoms and treatment to date; your medical and family history; your systems or functions (e.g. sleep,appetite, digestion, etc.); and your physical condition, e.g. distribution of body heat and condition of the skin. The purpose of this is to arrive at a diagnosis in Traditional Chinese Medicine. A treatment follows this history taking, and the whole first consultation can take up to 90 minutes. Subsequent treatments usually last around 60 minutes. Generally patients visit weekly to begin with, possibly more frequently if your condition is acute. As you improve, you will visit less frequently. The speed of improvement varies more according to the person than the label of the complaint.
Does it hurt?
Some people would like to try acupuncture but don't because they assume it will be painful. In fact, as the needles used are much finer than those used for injections, only a slight prick is felt as the needle goes through the skin. When the needles reaches the desired point-an area 4-5 mm below the surface of the skin-there is another sensation often described as a dull ache which lasts for a second or two.
How much do you charge?
All consultations are £30 each.
To make an appointment for acupuncture, please call Godfrey Bartlett on 01277 223894.