Optimise Your Well-Being with Acupuncture and Chinese Herbal Medicine

Acupuncture for pain management has been widely studied and can help with a wide variety of acute and chronic pain conditions, including: back/neck/shoulder pain, joint pain (including arthritic conditions), nerve pain, headaches and migraines, period pain, chronic pelvic pain, pain related to endometriosis or adenomyosis (pelvic or other areas), breast pain, bladder pain, carpel tunnel syndrome, pregnancy-related aches and pains, fibromyalgia, post-surgical pain, and more.

Acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine can be used to manage digestive symptoms such as chronic constipation, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), bloating, reflux, and more. Optimal digestive function is central to many areas of health, including immune health, mental health, reproductive health & fertility, and even skin health.

Acupuncture and herbal medicine can help boost energy, including chronic fatigue and post-viral fatigue. This research found that acupuncture plus usual care may improve energy in people with chronic fatigue syndrome.

Acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine can be used to help with difficulty falling asleep and/or staying asleep. This review of research notes that acupuncture ‘appears to be effective in [the] treatment of insomnia’, and ‘can inhance sleep quality’. You can also read this article by the sleep foundation of acupuncture for sleep.

Acupuncture acts on the central nervous system to calm anxiety, improve resilience to stress, and may also improve mood.

A course of acupuncture has been shown to be at least as effective as drugs at reducing the frequency of migraines - but with less side effects (according to this Cochrane review which included 4985 participants).

Both the NICE and ANZCAFPM guidelines recommend acupuncture for migraine prevention.

Acupuncture for headache prevention has shown that a course of acupuncture can significantly reduce headache frequency, according to this Cochrane review

Both the NICE and ANZCAFPM guidelines recommend acupuncture for headache management.

Acupuncture can regulate the immune system, and can both ‘stimulate and support immunological responses that are anti-inflammatory and anti-infectious’ according to this study

Acupuncture to modulate immune function can be used for a variety of issues, such as lingering post-viral symptoms, poor immunity/frequent colds and flus, autoimmune conditions, and more.

Acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine can be useful in managing post-viral symptoms such as fatigue, pain, chronic respiratory symptoms, menstrual issues, palpitations, poor temperature regulation and more

You do not need to be sick to come and see me for acupuncture and/or herbal medicine - many well people choose to see me for a preventative 'health maintenance' approach, which typically involves monthly sessions.

Some of the potential benefits to this approach include better energy, improved mood & mental clarity, improved sense of general wellbeing, improved libido, better sleep, improved emotional regulation & resilience to stress.

Acupuncture and herbal medicine can help optimise how the endocrine system functionas as a whole, including thyroid function, and help with autoimmune thyroid disease (Hashimoto’s & Graves) through its effects on the the nervous, immune, and endocrine systems.

Hashimoto’s thyroiditis: This 2024 research review found that "acupuncture can improve the clinical symptoms of Hashimoto thyroiditis patients, regulate thyroid function, and enhance the quality of life of patients." It can also lower TSH.

This research review found that thyroxine plus acupuncture had a stronger therapeutic effect than thyroxine used alone.

Chinese herbal medicine has also been shown to reduce inflammation and modulate the immune system to reduce antibody levels. Some herbal medicines are thought to act by improving the gut microbiome (feeding beneficial gut bacteria & suppressing other bacteria) and strengthening the gut barrier to reduce inflammation. (1) See this study for more information.

Graves disease: this study found that patients taking methimazole who also did a 12 week course of Chinese herbal medicine had less symptoms and more improved biomarkers (FT3, FT4, TGAb and TRAb) than those taking medication alone.

According to the above study, Chinese herbal medicine + methimazole can improve “thyroid gland function, decrease the level of thyroid gland autoantibodies and improve the symptoms and signs of [Graves Disease]” better than medication alone.

You can read more about Chinese medicine for Graves here

Acupuncture and herbal medicines, in my experience, are sadly not magical weight loss solutions that will magically melt off weight.

However, if you need to lose weight, they can support your efforts by:

• reducing cravings

• managing stress & promoting sleep quality

• promoting metabolic health

• managing any pain that may be interfering with your ability to exercise

• boosting energy & mood

Studies have shown that acupuncture before and after surgery can help reduce post surgical anxiety, pain, cognitive issues, nausea and vomiting.

Acupuncture has also been shown to help with headaches after surgeries that involve dural puncture.

It may also help with persistent hiccups after surgery.

“A growing body of evidence supports the use of perioperative acupuncture as part of an enhanced postsurgical recovery protocol” (2)