Chinese Herbal Medicine and Acupuncture are the 2 arms of Traditional Chinese Medicine.  Chinese Acupuncture uses needling in specific combinations of points in the treatment of many, in fact any and all illnesses. Every symptom and illness can be described in some way of imbalance by the understanding of Chinese Medicine, but what is more important is the combination of symptoms that allude the practitioner to the underlying imbalance and therefore what must be treated. Many conditions can be treated with Acupuncture, especially Fertility and Reproductive Health, Back and Neck Pains, acute or chronic, Arthritis, Headaches, Migraines, Sinusitis, Flu, Bronchitis,any muscular issue, sprains, strains, any trauma injury and the list goes on…yes, I have some patients who come for a treatment when sick with a flu as it helps speed up the healing and resolution incredibly fast.

Chinese Herbal Medicine is the herbal or medicinal arm of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), this involves the use of herbs in specific combinations that are specifically and individually chosen for the specific state and level of imbalance and in which system this is located (according to the tennets of TCM). This assists in an incredibly fast way to strengthen and balance the functioning of that system so that it performs its required function optimally, when this happens, balance is restored and healing is the result. It is an incredibly powerful form of medicine that should be taken seriously. It has been around for over 5000 years and has more than proven its efficacy. In my opinion, if conventional medicine opened their view enough to only include TCM (herbal and acupuncture) into its use, we would revolutionise healthcare. Patients are routinely gobsmacked at the speed at which they heal. It put’s paid to the misconception that “Natural medicines take so long to work”.

The diseases or disorders for which Acupuncture therapy has been tested in controlled clinical trials reported (by W.H.O.) in the recent literature can be classified into four categories as shown below:

1. Diseases, symptoms or conditions for which acupuncture has been proved-through controlled trials–to be an effective treatment:

• Adverse reactions to radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy
• Allergic rhinitis (including hay fever)
• Biliary colic
• Depression (including depressive neurosis and depression following stroke)
• Dysentery, acute bacillary
• Dysmenorrhoea, primary (painful periods)
• Epigastralgia, acute (in peptic ulcer, acute and chronic gastritis, and gastrospasm)
• Facial pain (including craniomandibular disorders)
• Headache
• Hypertension, essential
• Hypotension, primary
• Induction of labour
• Knee pain
• Leukopenia
• Low back pain
• Malposition of fetus, correction of
• Morning sickness
• Nausea and vomiting
• Neck pain
• Pain in dentistry (including dental pain and temporomandibular dysfunction)
• Periarthritis of shoulder
• Postoperative pain
• Renal colic
• Rheumatoid arthritis
• Sciatica
• SprainStroke
• Tennis elbow

…let alone all the conditions that have shown therapeutic effect that are also mentioned in categories 2, 3 and 4…

Acupuncture is really an amazing healing technique and I’m not too sure what I would do without it, I find it so rewarding to practically perform a body healing technique, I like getting hands on. It helps my understanding and assessment of your case, because often the needles tell me something, which one was sore indicates certain underlying things, its like getting more clues to solve the puzzle. And no, its not really that sore overall, most people are very pleasantly relieved to realise it’s nothing like they imagined and they love the feeling of floating home afterwards and enjoy the good night’s sleep that night. The treatment session also gives us more time for consultation and discussion about things, making the healing process and very combined journey.