Acupuncture is an excellent way to help manage pain that has been there for a long time, or is related to feeling stressed and anxious.

Acupuncture is a system of healing which draws on over two thousand years of experience gained from Chinese medicine and from the Far East. Acupuncture is one of the many skills used within physiotherapy as an integrated approach to the management of pain and inflammation and as a means of stimulating the body’s own healing chemicals in order to aid recovery and enhance rehabilitation (getting better, quicker).

Acupuncture is used by Physiotherapists, against a background of sound research and evidence, as a means of enhancing pain modulation via the stimulation of the brain and spinal cord to produce NATURAL pain relieving chemicals, such as endorphins; melatonin to promote sleep and serotonin to promote well-being, to name but a few.

The insertion of fine needles at specific points of the body enables the acupuncturist to stimulate the body’s own healing response to restore a healthy balance and treat the injury.

The resulting relief from physical and emotional discomfort often leads to patients experiencing a sense of wellbeing after treatment.

Illness can occur when the flow of energy around the body is blocked or is uneven, which causes symptoms. Acupuncture works by rebalancing the body’s flow of energy.

The two main Acupuncture techniques used at Physio117 are:

Conventional Acupuncture involves the use of single use, pre-sterilised, disposable needles of varying widths, lengths and materials that pierce the skin at the Acupuncture points. The Physiotherapist will determine the locations of the Acupuncture points, based upon the assessment of the cause of the imbalance. A number of needles may be used at each treatment and these are typically left in position for some 20-30 minutes before being removed.

Trigger point Acupuncture may also be used to facilitate relaxation in specific muscles following trauma such as whiplash injury; for longer term un-resolving muscle pain such as repetitive strain injury (RSI) or as a means to obtain increased muscle length in order to aid stretch and rehabilitation such as sports injuries. Here the needle is placed into the affected muscle until it is felt to relax under the needle and then removed. Trigger point needling is often much quicker and therefore does not require the 20-30 minute treatment time.