Acupuncture Can Help You Sleep Better, Digest Better, and Feel Better Emotionally!

Acupuncture is a 3,000 year-old Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) healing technique. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the USA publicized acupuncture's safety and efficacy for treating a wide range of conditions in 1997. Acupuncture is now widely used in natural-based health care to relieve pain or improve health outcomes and is covered by many private health insurance policies.

How Does Acupuncture Work?

Acupuncture improves the body's functions and promotes natural self-healing by stimulating specific anatomic sites known as acupuncture points or acupoints. The most common way to stimulate acupoints is to insert fine, sterile needles into the skin. Some practitioners use pressure, heat, or electrical stimulation to enhance the effects. Other acupoint stimulation techniques may include manual massage, moxibustion or heat therapy, cupping, and the application of topical herbal medicines and linaments.

Traditional Chinese Medicine is founded on an ancient philosophy that describes the universe and the human body in terms of two opposing forces: yin and yang. The body is healthy when these forces are in balance. Throughout the body, energy known as "qi" (pronounced "chee") flows along specific pathways known as meridians. This constant flow of energy maintains the balance of the yin and yang forces. However, if the flow of energy is disrupted, such as when water becomes stuck behind a dam, the disruption can cause pain, loss of function, or illness. Acupuncture therapy can stimulate the process and release blocked qi in the body, eliciting the body's natural healing response through various physiological systems. For many, acupuncture has helped to resolve pain and improve sleep, digestive function, and overall well-being by stimulating the body's multiple systems. Modern research has demonstrated acupuncture's effects on the nervous system, endocrine and immune systems, cardiovascular system and digestive system.

What Really Happens During an Acupuncture Session?

Your acupuncturist will start first by inquiring about your medical history. Then, depending on your specific health needs, they will examine your tongue's shape, colour, and coating, feel your pulse, and may perform some additional physical examinations. The acupuncturist can recommend a suitable treatment plan for your specific condition using these unique assessment tools. To begin the acupuncture treatment, you lie comfortably on a treatment table while precise acupoints on various parts of your body are stimulated. As the fine needles are gently inserted, most people experience no or minimal discomfort. The acupuncture needles are usually kept in place for five to thirty minutes. People often say they feel very relaxed during and after their treatments.

How Many Sessions Do I Need?

The number and frequency of treatments vary from person to person. Some people report dramatic relief after the very first treatment. One to two treatments per week is usually recommended for several months for complex or long-standing chronic conditions. Fewer visits are typically required for acute problems, eight to ten in total. You may be given an individualized treatment plan that includes the expected number of treatments during your initial visit.

Acupuncture is Commonly Used to Treat What Conditions?

Acupuncture has been shown in hundreds, perhaps thousands of clinical studies to successfully treat many conditions, including musculoskeletal problems (back pain, neck pain, & other areas), nausea, migraine headache, anxiety, depression, insomnia, and infertility.

Acupuncture has been shown in case-controlled clinical studies to be an effective treatment for the following diseases, symptoms, or conditions:

• Acute Epigastric Pain (in peptic ulcer, acute and chronic gastritis, and gastrospasm)
• Back Pain
• Biliary Colic
• Correction for Fetal Malposition
• Dental Pain (TMJ)
• Depression (including depressive neurosis & depression following stroke)
• Dysentery, Acute Bacillary
• Headache
• Hypertension
• Knee Ache
• Labor Induction
• Leukopenia
• Morning Sickness
• Nausea and Vomiting
• Neck Pain or Discomfort
• Pain After Surgery
• Pain in the Face (including craniomandibular disorders)
• Primary Dysmenorrhea
• Primary Hypotension
• Renal Colic
• Rheumatoid Arthritis
• Rhinitis Caused by Allergies (including hay fever)
• Sciatica
• Shoulder Periarthritis
• Sprain
• Stroke
• Tennis Elbow

There is limited but likely evidence to support the therapeutic use of acupuncture for the following diseases, symptoms, or conditions:

• Abdominal Pain (acute gastroenteritis or gastrointestinal spasm)
• Acne Vulgaris (common acne)
• Acute Spine Pain
• Alcohol Dependence and Detoxification
• Arthritis Gouty
• Asthma of the Bronchioles
• Bell's Palsy
• Bronchial Asthma
• Cancer Pain
• Cardiac Neurosis
• Cardiovascular Neuropathy
• Cholecystitis, Chronic, with Acute Exacerbation
• Chronic Urolithiasis and Ulcerative Colitis
• Closed Cranial-cerebral Injury
• Competition Stress Syndrome
• Convalescence after Surgery
• Craniocerebral Injury, Closed
• Dependence on Opium, Cocaine, and Heroin
• Detoxification and Alcoholism
• Diabetes Mellitus (non-insulin-dependent)
• Disturbance of Gastrointestinal Kinetics
• Earache
• Endoscopic Examination Caused Pain
• Epidemic Haemorrhagic Fever
• Epistaxis, simple (without generalized or local disease)
• Eye Pain (due to subconjunctival injection)
• Facial Spasm
• Fasciitis and Fibromyalgia
• Female Infertility
• Fibromyalgia & Fasciitis
• Gastrokinetic Disturbance
• Gouty Arthritis
• Hemorrhagic Fever Epidemic
• Hepatitis B Virus Carrier Status
• Herpes Zoster (human herpesvirus type 3)
• Hyperlipaemia
• Hypo-ovarian
• Insomnia (Sleep issues)
• Labour Pain
• Lactation (deficiency)
• Male Sexual Dysfunction (non-organic)
• Ménière Disease
• Neuralgia (postherpetic)
• Neurodermatitis
• Non-insulin-Dependent Type 2 Diabetes
• Obesity (weight management)
• Osteoarthritis
• Ovarian Polycystic Syndrome (Stein-Leventhal syndrome)
• Pain Associated Thromboangiitis Obliterans (Buerger disease)
• Pain due to Endoscopic Examination
• Pain in Thrombi Angiitises Obliterans
• Pediatric Extubation
• Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (Stein-Leventhal syndrome)
• Post-extubation in Children
• Postherpetic Neuralgia
• Postoperative Convalescence
• Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS)
• Prostatitis (chronic)
• Pruritus
• Radicular and Pseudoradicular Pain Syndrome
• Raynaud's Syndrome (primary)
• Recurrent Lower Urinary Tract Infection
• Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy
• Schizophrenia
• Sialism, Drug-induced (excessive salivation)
• Sjögren's Syndrome
• Smoking (tobacco use)
• Sore throat (including tonsillitis)
• Spasms of the Face
• Stiff Neck
• Subconjunctival Injection-related Eye Pain
• Temporomandibular Joint Dysfunction (TMJ)
• Tietze Syndrome
• Tourette's Syndrome
• Urethral Syndrome in Females
• Urine Retention (trauma)
• Vascular Dementia
• Whooping Cough (pertussis)

How do I Find the Best Acupuncturist?

Our registered acupuncturist is also a Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) Doctor with many years of specialized clinical experience.