Have you, or someone you know, experienced fabulous results from acupuncture treatment? Many health conditions can be treated effectively with acupuncture. The World Health Organization (WHO) has lists of diseases or disorders for which acupuncture therapy has been tested in controlled clinical trials reported in recent literature. The lists are classified into four categories:
1) Diseases, symptoms or conditions for which acupuncture has been proved – through controlled trials – to be an effective treatment.
2) Diseases, symptoms or conditions for which the therapeutic effect of acupuncture has been shown but for which further proof is needed.
3) Diseases, symptoms or conditions for which there are only individual controlled trials reporting some therapeutic effects, but for which acupuncture is worth trying because treatment by conventional and other therapies is difficult.
4) Diseases, symptoms or conditions for which acupuncture may be tried provided the practitioner has special modern medical knowledge and adequate monitoring equipment.
Here is the WHO’s list for category 1 conditions proved to be effectively treated by acupuncture:
- 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
- Dysmenorrhea, primary
- Epigastralgia, acute (in peptic ulcer, acute and chronic gastritis, and gastrospasm)
- Facial pain (including craniomandibular disorders)
- Headache
- Hypertension, essential
- Hypotension, primary
- Induction of labor
- 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
- Sprain
- Stroke
- Tennis elbow
Remember, this list only includes conditions where acupuncture’s effectiveness has been proved through controlled clinical trials. However, this is not a complete list of conditions that can be treated by acupuncture. For more information, check out the World Health Organization’s publication, Acupuncture: Review and Analysis of Reports on Controlled Clinical Trials, by clicking here: http://apps.who.int/medicinedocs/pdf/s4926e/s4926e.pdf
Shermie Cadabona, DACM, LAc 