publication date: Jul 18, 2011
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author/source: Crispin Gordon
What conditions respond to acupuncture?
Acupuncture can
be employed to treat
conditions of a physical, emotional and psychological nature
and it is particularly
good at helping sufferers of
pain, be it physical or
emotional. It is recognised by the
NHS as an effective means of tackling
back pain while it is widely used as a way
of addressing
headaches, sports injuries,
depression and infertility.
Does acupuncture hurt?
The size of the
needles employed in
acupuncture are equivalent to a
human hair and thus provoke
barely any
sensation when inserted. One might feel some
sensation at the moment the needle
makes contact
with the
acupuncture points that lie under the surface of the skin, but this
sensation is akin to a
dull ache and lasts for less than a second.
I hate needles, is there an alternative?
Some people are
traumatised by even the sight of
needles and are therefore unable to receive
acupuncture. In such cases I would use a style of
massage called
shiatsu which
works on the same principles as
acupuncture but does not involve any
needles.
How long does a session last?
A session
typically lasts for an hour. The
first session however would last closer to
90
minutes, as a number of
questions need to be asked in order to achieve an
accurate and
conclusive
diagnosis.
Generally, how many sessions are usual?
This is a tricky
one to
answer as it is nigh on
impossible to predict accurately how long
healing is going to take but the
rule of thumb is that if the
condition presented
is
new, the quicker the
healing process is going to be. Thus if someone comes
to me with a
brand new injury, the number of
sessions required is likely to be
less than
half a dozen, while if someone wants to address something that has
been
present for years, I would expect the
sessions required to be closer to a
dozen.
Are there any contraindications?
I
would not be
comfortable treating a
haemophiliac as acupuncture might injure a
sufferer of
this condition. The only other
condition that it is important for me to be
aware of is
early pregnancy as a handful of points are
contra-indicated in the
first
six months of pregnancy and
other points need to be selected.
What happens at your first appointment?
When someone
comes for their
first appointment I begin by asking the
patient about the
nature of their
main complaint and then go on to ask
questions to establish the
state of their
overall health. Following this I take the
pulse as well as look
at the
tongue in order to arrive at a
diagnosis which would enable me to
commence treatment.
About Crispin Gordon
My interest in
oriental medicine was sparked while teaching English in
Japan in my early
twenties. On my return to the UK, I set about studying
shiatsu massage which
opened my eyes to the power and effectiveness of
oriental medicine. From there,
learning
acupuncture was a natural progression and today I use
shiatsu and
acupuncture in both
private practice and the
NHS to treat many people with a
wide array of
conditions.
For
more information visit
my website or call 07930 172592.
