Acupuncture for pain
As effective as morphine but no side effects
Acupuncture is one of the oldest techniques to treat pain. In fact, it is as effective as morphine, but has no side effects. For this reason it’s commonly integrated in many emergency departments in Europe and US.
According to the newest chronic pain guidelines doctors should advise to use acupuncture alongside physical and psychological therapies, rather than analgesics to manage it.
We have been specialising in treating complex pain conditions for more than 20 years. We have the experience and expertise to support most patients.
93%
93% of pain sufferers reported successful treatment with acupuncture in a study with 89,000 patients.
Reference: American Specialty Health 2016
Acupuncture powerful analgesia
The story of acupuncture for pain in the Western world started when New York Times journalist James Reston in 1971 went to China.
He was in for a surprise. While in China, he needed an emergency operation to remove the appendix.
To his astonishment, the Chinese physicians performed appendectomy, a painful surgical procedure, with acupuncture as the only means of analgesia.
Following the media coverage, some scientists were thrilled by the opportunities acupuncture could provide.
Researchers were inspired by the prospect of creating powerful drugs with no side-effects. No addiction, no damaged stomach linings. Just powerful analgesia and healing, acupuncture provides.
However, scientists did not manage to replicate the acupuncture effect in pill form. No big surprise. Nonetheless, their studies revealed to the Western medical world acupuncture’s mechanisms and ability to treat pain.
Journalist James Reston (pictured with Richard Nixon) recovered from appendectomy with no other analgesia but acupuncture.
World Health Organisation:
“Acupuncture is comparable with morphine, but without the adverse effects of morphine, such as dependency”.
“acupuncture analgesia can be regarded as the method of choice for treating many chronically painful conditions”