Acupuncture as well as herbal medicine can help with painful periods and pain between periods - see here for more information

Acupuncture (and herbal medicine) can help with pelvic pain during your period & at other times of your cycle, as well as bowel pain, painful sex, bladder pain, headaches, bloating, low energy, stress, anxiety and low mood

Acupuncture can help with period pain and cramping, heavy clotty bleeding, bloating, and bleeding between periods. See here for more info

Acupuncture can help with most aches and pains related to pregnancy, including back pain, pelvic girdle pain, headaches and migraines, jaw pain, carpel tunnel syndrome.

Acupuncture is also a drug-free way of managing pre-existing chronic pain throughout pregnancy

Acupuncture can reduce the frequency, severity and length of headaches and migraines, and help reduce the need for acute pain medication, and improve quality of life.

Acupuncture helps by reducing neuroinflammation and may also act by altering abnormal brain activity and abnormal neuroplasticity.

Interested in the research?

A 2022 research review found that “acupuncture showed persistent, exceptional, and clinically relevant benefits for migraine in terms of lessening the severity of the headache…migraine attack duration, headache frequency, the number of headache days, and the days of acute medication use.”

They also found that the “acupuncture group showed a significant decrease in migraine frequency, migraine days, and headache intensity compared to placebo acupuncture, as well as a long-term improvement in the emotional domains of quality of life”

Acupuncture can reduce headache intensity as well as number of headache days in people with chronic post-traumatic headache following mild traumatic brain injury, according to this recent study.

Painful bladder syndrome can be a debilitating condition to live with. Acupuncture can help relieve bladder pressure, pain and pelvic pain.

According to this study, acupuncture is “an effective, useful, non-invasive method in [interstitial cystitis / painful bladder syndrome] patients”

Acupuncture and herbal medicine can be useful in managing vulvodynia symptoms like vulval pain, itching, painful sex, UTI-like symptoms like increased frequency, burning, pain and discomfit when urinating. These therapies can also be helpful for vaginismus, in combination with pelvic floor physiotherapy.

Acupuncture is a widely used treatment to manage both short-term and long-term (acute & chronic) back, neck and shoulder pain.

It acts by improving blood flow, relieving tension, promoting the release of biochemicals which reduce inflammation and pain, regulating your nervous system, and promoting tissue healing.

Acupuncture can be used to manage joint pain caused by a number of conditions (including osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis), as well as pain due to injuries.

Rheumatoid arthritis:

• Acupuncture has been shown to reduce the production of inflammatory chemicals, modulate the immune system, and provide pain relief, according to this research.

• The most recent research review found that “evidence suggests that acupuncture is beneficial for relieving pain and ameliorating [improving] quality of life and health index in patients with RA [rheumatoid arthritis]

Osteoarthritis

• according to a research review: “acupuncture may offer improvements in pain and function in KOA [knee osteoarthritis] in patients for 3 to 6 months after completion of treatment with a good safety profile. Offering acupuncture to patients may facilitate the ongoing management of KOA”

Acupuncture can help relieve jaw pain and tension.

This research review found that “acupuncture therapy is effective in reducing the degree of pain in patients with TMD [jaw joint & muscle disorders], especially those with myofascial pain symptoms.”

Interested in reading further? See this Colgate article.

Acupuncture is an effective way to manage sciatic pain and reduce the chance of it recurring. It acts by regulating the nervous system, and promoting the release of your body’s own anti-inflammatory, pain relieving biochemicals.

Interested in the research?

This 2023 research review found that “acupuncture therapy is an effective and safe treatment for patients with sciatica”. Compared to medication, acupuncture was found to have better long-term effects and was better than medication at reducing the chance of symptoms recurring.

This recent study found that “in patients with chronic sciatica from herniated disk, acupuncture resulted in less pain and better function compared with sham acupuncture [‘fake’ acupuncture] at week 4, and these benefits persisted through week 52. Acupuncture should be considered as a potential treatment option for patients with chronic sciatica from a herniated disk.”

Growing evidence shows that acupuncture useful as part of a multidisciplinary approach to reduce pain, sleep quality, and quality of life.

Acupuncture is useful before & after surgery, to promote tissue healing and recovery, manage pain, and reduce anxiety and nausea. I recommend starting acupuncture before surgery to access its full benefits on recovery.

“A growing body of evidence supports the use of perioperative acupuncture as part of an enhanced postsurgical recovery protocol. Data from both clinical trials and animal studies has shown that the integration of acupuncture into perioperative patient care leads to a reduction of perioperative complications such as preoperative anxiety, intraoperative hemodynamic instability, postoperative pain, postoperative cognitive dysfunction, and postoperative nausea and vomiting in surgical patients.” (1)

1. Zhang W, Zhang H, Wang SM, Guo J, Ma Y, Li Y, Su F, Chi Y. Perioperative Acupuncture Optimizes Surgical Outcomes: Theory, Clinical Practice and Future Perspectives. Am J Chin Med. 2022;50(4):961-978. doi: 10.1142/S0192415X22500392. PMID: 35729088.