Acupuncture

THE ISHTA HOLISTIC HEALTH CENTRE

Acupuncture

What Is Acupuncture?
Acupuncture is an ancient system of healing and the earliest texts date back 2500 years. This system of medicine has successfully been used in China from ancient times and is still used today.
In the west acupuncture has been widely used in the treatment of pain but it has a much wider area of effectiveness when used to stimulate our own healing responses.
A network of meridians or channels allow energy or qi to flow to all parts of the body. If the energy flow is disrupted or cut off this will lead to symptoms occurring. The stimulation of specific points along the meridian of energy will allow healing to take place.
What will acupuncture help?
Many people come to acupuncture for help with a specific symptom or condition. For example; anxiety states, arthritis, asthma, back pain, circulatory problems, depression, facial paralysis, high blood pressure, infertility, menstrual problems, migraines, rheumatism, sciatica, skin conditions or ulcers. Extensive practice and research has shown acupuncture's effectiveness in helping these and other conditions.
The effect of good acupuncture is to do more than simply cure the symptom. Acupuncture directed at restoring the overall energy balance will deal with the condition and help the patient feel better in a general way. A comment often heard is " I'm feeling much better in myself."
What to expect
The initial consultation takes between 1- 11/2 hrs. A full history is taken which will include details of symptoms, medical history, sleep and dietary patterns and any other relevant information. A physical diagnosis is also taken where the blood pressure is recorded, the 12 Chinese pulses are read and the body's heat regulation is checked.
Once a Chinese diagnosis has been determined treatment may begin.
To start treatment is usually on a weekly basis and as improvement occurs these treatments will be spaced further apart. The speed of improvement will vary form person to person. As each treatment is tailored to the individual 2 people with similar symptoms may receive very different treatment.
After Treatment
It is advisable to have some quiet time to allow maximum benefit from the treatment to take place.

The Acupucturist is Clare Dobie.