It may be a cliché, but the world really is shrinking.  For instance you can stroll into any Cornish supermarket and purchase exotica from just about anywhere on the planet.  Nor do imports stop at what you can buy.  Slowly but surely the UK has been embracing new ideas too, and with new ideas, new ways to do things.

That’s where Acupuncture comes in.  Thirty years ago Acupuncture may have seemed to many a quaint practice of the ‘mystical’ East. Yet today it’s become a norm for tens of thousands of ordinary British people.  So how and why has this happened?  Just what exactly is Acupuncture?

As an Acupuncturist and Chinese-style Masseur, I get asked the same questions everywhere I go.  People naturally want to know just what it is I do, does it actually work and how, or is it all ‘in the mind?’  What can it treat, and basically, would it be worth their while to have a go?  Perhaps I can satisfy some of these questions here.

The first question: does Acupuncture work?  The body of scientific support for the effects of Acupuncture is growing every day.  By ‘scientific’ I mean Acupuncture treatments that have been examined by Western scientists under strict laboratory conditions. Generally the results have been extremely favorable, so much so that some types of Acupuncture are now offered as routine by many hospital pain clinics, GP’s, drug counselors and midwives.

I look at it slightly differently.  Traditional Chinese Medicine (which includes Acupuncture and Chinese Massage) evolved over at least three thousand years. As laboratories weren’t available, medical progress was made by trial and error, and most of all, by very keen observation.  The result?  We are left with a ‘hard core’ of techniques that have been shown to work time and time again, over centuries and with literally thousands, even millions of patients.  The techniques that clearly didn’t work were dropped a long time ago.  So any treatment I could offer you has something of a track record, to put it mildly.

But how does it work? Traditional Chinese Medicine has its own incredibly complex theories and rules. Stripped to its bare essentials however, the system works something like this: Human beings are seen as an integrated system of ‘networks’ which balance our health, physically, mentally, emotionally and some would say spiritually.  This balance can go awry, leading to illness. Inserting tiny needles or massaging certain pressure points can return balance and good health to the entire ‘network’. (And that’s right; you don’t necessarily have to have the needles. It can often be done with Chinese Massage alone!)  As for the famous ‘placebo effect’… Vets have shown that Acupuncture is extremely effective on animals. Presumably it’s not ‘all in the mind’ for a horse or a dog!

And finally, what can Acupuncture and Chinese Massage treat?  Well, the system is by no means a ‘miracle cure’ for all human ills. It has limits. At the same time it’s a mistake to think that it exists just to help with pain or to stop you from smoking.  Traditional Chinese Medicine is a complete medical system in its own right, expecting success with a very wide range of complaints, be they physical, emotional or psychological.  It seems to shine particularly well in the treatment of long-term, chronic problems.

But there’s really only one way to find out!  If this article interests you, feel free to contact me at the details above and I’ll be happy to discuss your individual health needs.

Contact me, Rob Long here.