Acupuncture

Acupuncture is used by Physiotherapists to encourage pain relief and create a window of opportunity for you to strengthen your muscles to overcome injury/pain.

Acupuncture has been used in eastern medicine for a number of years but lacked research. Western medicine have adopted certain aspects of this treatment technique that are of sound research and evidence.

Acupuncture is one of the many skills used within physiotherapy as an integrated approach to the management of pain and inflammation.

This will help to stimulate the body’s own healing chemicals in order to aid recovery and enhance rehabilitation.

The overall number of treatment sessions required will depend on you, your condition and your physiotherapist’s assessment.

Normally, you will require 4-6 treatments, however, one or two treatments may be enough.

Also, it is common to require 1 or 2 ‘top up’ treatments after your initial round of treatment. Treatments are normally weekly and it will be clear after a few sessions whether or not acupuncture will benefit you.

Scientific research and clinical evidence have shown that Acupuncture can reduce pain by stimulating the brain and spinal cord to produce natural pain-relieving chemicals such as:

• Endorphins
• Melatonin(this helps you sleep)
• Serotonin(to promote mental well-being and happiness)

These chemicals assist the body’s healing processes and provide pain relief as a precursor to other treatments such as hands-on therapy or exercise so that you can fully recover.