Managing Pain

And Other Medically Proven Uses of Acupuncture

Richard Halvorsen

• Publisher: Gibson Square
• Year: 2013
• eBook ISBN: 9781908096159
• Topic: Medicine
• Subtopic: General Health

Chronic pain is associated with a host of conditions for which traditional medicine has no cure. Increasingly, medical practitioners look to acupuncture to manage pain and other conditions - with over 1 million people in the UK being helped every year, and an estimated 20 million in the USA. This readable, practical and comprehensive guide brings together all acupuncture treatments as well as the latest clinical medical research into their effectiveness. In addition, the author has included observations from his own practice. Easy-to-understand ratings make clear where acupuncture is most likely to work for you. For the first time, the effectiveness of acupuncture based on Western medical science (muscle knots) and traditional Chinese medicine (energy channels) are considered side by side. Some of the applications discussed apart from chronic pain: insomnia, stress, stopping smoking, losing weight, migraine, infertility, pregnancy conditions, menopause, nausea, irritable bowel syndrome, cancer, irritative bladder, drug addiction.

16

What Is Acupuncture Unable to Treat?

I have listed the conditions for which there is most scientific evidence that acupuncture can help and those that I personally feel are most likely to be helped by acupuncture.

Whilst most conditions not mentioned in this book are, in my view, less likely to be helped by acupuncture there may be exceptions in individual cases. The aim of any practitioner should be to try to find the right treatment for a particular individual with their specific problem. This is what I always tried to do as a GP, but is less likely to happen when you go to see a specialist.

If you visit an acupuncturist with a specific problem you are likely to receive acupuncture in the same way that if you visit a chiropractor you are likely to receive a manipulation and you will almost certainly he given a homoeopathic remedy after consultation with a homoeopath. The same applies to mainstream medicine where a referral to a surgeon is more likely to result in surgery than if you are referred to a physician. This is not surprising; after all, we all do what we do, and will offer help in what we are trained in.

What is most important when visiting an acupuncturist is that this does not prevent you from receiving treatment that might be more appropriate or even potentially life-saving. If you have cancer, by all means see an acupuncturist for help controlling symptoms but do not expect acupuncture to cure you. It is essential that you also see an orthodox specialist to receive, or at least be offered, treatment that is likely to be more appropriate. It may be stating the obvious when I say that a fracture needs to be treated in the fracture clinic, but then again acupuncture could have a role in supporting the healing process once the orthopaedic surgeons have fixed the initial break.

It is also important that patients seeking acupuncture for help with a specific condition do not stop taking their conventional medication unless this is agreed by their regular doctor. This particularly applies to conditions such as asthma, hypertension (high blood pressure), diabetes and thyroid disease in which long-term medication is needed to maintain health.

The bottom line is that acupuncture will of course not help everybody with every condition. For some conditions such as back pain, neck pain and nausea it will provide relief to most people receiving treatment. For many other conditions only a minority will be helped but it is usually very difficult to tell who this minority will be.

Some people are not helped by acupuncture at all – for anything – while others appear to be particularly amenable to the benefits that acupuncture has to offer. In many cases the best course of action is to have a trial of a course of acupuncture to see whether it can help your particular problem; if there is no improvement after half a dozen treatments then it is unlikely that it is going to help.

I

How Do I Find a Good Acupuncturist?

If you are very lucky you will have a GP or another doctor in your surgery who practices acupuncture. Failing that your local NHS physiotherapy unit may have a physiotherapist who uses acupuncture, though he or she may only treat muscular problems. Finally, if your problem is a longstanding painful one, you will find that acupuncture is offered in the vast majority of NHS pain clinics.

However, more often than not you will probably be unable to find acupuncture on the NHS and will then have no option but to find an acupuncturist in the ‘Wild West’ of the private sector. What follows is some guidance on how to find a private acupuncturist who is both competent and safe.

Anyone can, quite legally, set himself or herself up as an acupuncturist without any knowledge or training whatsoever. There is no statutory regulation of acupuncturists and so it is important to know how to find one who is safe and competent and you can trust to stick needles in you. The two most established organisations that cover the majority of acupuncturists practicing in the UK are the British Medical Acupuncture Society (BMAS) and the British Acupuncture Council (BAcC).

Western medical or Traditional Chinese acupuncture?

It is a little arbitrary to divide acupuncture treatment into two main types, especially as they overlap and some acupuncturists incorporate both systems into their practice. However, most acupuncturists do practice predominantly one form or the other and so it may be helpful to know which conditions are most likely to be helped by each method.

Western medical acupuncture, concentrating on trigger points is, in my experience, most effective for any muscular problems, as well as headaches, migraines and repetitive strain injuries (including tennis elbow). It can also be useful for conditions affecting the organs of the body (such as period pains, irritable bowel syndrome, colitis or chronic cystitis) when segmental acupuncture can be usefully employed (See chapter 1).

Traditional Chinese acupuncture is most helpful when people have symptoms that don’t fit a traditional Western diagnosis such as feeling tired all the time or feeling generally unwell (provided causes treatable with conventional medicine have been excluded). TCM acupuncture is also more likely to be the first choice for conditions that affect much of the body, such as menopausal problems or PMS, and for conditions where acupuncture has been shown to be effective using Chinese methods such as nausea, vomiting and infertility.

It is generally a good idea to get a diagnosis from your own doctor first before visiting an acupuncturist to ensure that there isn’t another treatment that would be more appropriate. It is probably safest to go to an acupuncturist who is a member of one of the following organisations.

The British Medical Acupuncture Society (BMAS)

The BMAS promotes Western scientific acupuncture. Its 2,700 members are all health professionals who are already regulated under their own regulatory body; these include doctors, physiotherapists, osteopaths, chiropractors and nurses. The BMAS runs training courses and educational events. Most BMAS members will be practicing acupuncture alongside more conventional techniques. Members are subject to its code of practice and complaints procedure.

There are several levels of membership of the BMAS:

Certificate of Basic Competence (CoBC)

The practitioner will have completed a BMAS Foundation Course or equivalent, practiced acupuncture for at least three months, keeping a logbook of over 30 cases, and demonstrated competence and safe practice to an experienced BMAS assessor.

Diploma in Western Medical Acupuncture (DipMedAc):

The practitioner will have completed the BMAS CoBC or SCA (see below), including the BMAS Foundation Course or equivalent. In addition, at least 100 training hours will have been completed including attending further courses and meetings, plus a logbook of at least 100 cases plus 15 detailed case reports. This level of training award is recognised by the BMAS for ‘accredited’ status, with reaccreditation required every five years by submission of a comprehensive training record comprising a minimum of 30 hours of further continuing professional development (CPD).

CPD is something that all health professionals should undertake. It is the way we continue to learn and develop throughout our careers in order to keep our skills and knowledge up to date and to work safely and effectively. Accredited members of the BMAS are likely to be recognised by health insurance providers such as BUPA and AXA PPP.

University of Hertfordshire qualifications

The BMAS now works with the University of Hertfordshire to offer a variety of qualifications ranging from a safety and competence award (SCA) through to an MSc in Western Medical Acupuncture.

However, it is important to bear in mind that all members of the BMAS are fully qualified health professionals in their own right in addition to practicing acupuncture.

British Acupuncture Council (BAcC)

The BAcC represents around 3,000 professional acupuncturists, most of whom practice traditional (Chinese) acupuncture.

All members are bound by the Council’s codes of safe practice and professional conduct. Though the BAcC does not run its own training courses it accredits courses run by other organisations including several Universities.

Acupuncturists registered with the BAcC will have undertaken extensive training in traditional Chinese medicine and acupuncture along with training in anatomy, physiology and pathology, amounting to a total of 3,600 hours of study. They are also required to undertake CPD.

Acupuncture Association of Chartered Physiotherapists (AACP)

The AACP has over 6,000 physiotherapist members who have undertaken at least 80 hours of training on acupuncture. An advanced member will have a minimum of 200 hours of acupuncture training. All members are required to undertake at least ten hours of acupuncture training every two years. AACP acupuncturists may be most appropriate for muscular problems.

British Academy of Western Medical Acupuncture (BAWMA)

The BAWMA has run acupuncture courses, with an emphasis on Western scientific acupuncture, for many doctors, nurses and physiotherapists during the last 30 years or so that it has existed. It has around 1,500 members, most...

Table of contents

• Introduction
• What Is Acupuncture?
• What Are the Treatments?
• What Happens during Treatment?
• Is Acupuncture Safe?
• What Can Acupuncture Treat?
• Musculoskeletal Problems
• Headaches & Migraines
• Female (Gynaecological) Problems
• Conditions Related to Pregnancy
• Asthma & Allergic Conditions
• Addictions
• Bowel Problems
• Psychological problems
• Cancer
• Other Conditions
• What Is Acupuncture Unable to Treat?