What conditions does it treat?

The World Health Organization (WHO) has compiled a list of symptoms, syndromes, disease processes, pathologies, traumas and conditions that have been proven to be effectively treated by acupuncture. The WHO has also compiled a list of diseases, symptoms and conditions for which acupuncture has shown definative therapeutic effects.

In an official report, Acupuncture: Review and Analysis of Reports on Controlled Clinical Trials, the WHO has listed the following symptoms, diseases and conditions that have been shown through controlled trials to be treated effectively by acupuncture:

Low back pain
Neck pain
Sciatica
Tennis elbow
Knee pain
Periarthritis of the
shoulder
Sprains
Facial pain (including
craniomandibular
disorders)
Headache
Dental pain
Tempromandibular
(TMJ) dysfunction
Rheumatoid arthritis
Induction of labor
Correction of
malposition of fetus
Morning sickness
Nausea and vomiting

Postoperative pain
Stroke
Essential hypertension
Primary hypotension
Renal colic
Leucopenia
Adverse reactions to
radiation or
chemotherapy
Allergic rhinitis, including
hay fever
Biliary colic
Depression (including
depressive neurosis
and depression following
stroke)
Acute bacillary
dysentery
Primary dysmenorrhea
Acute epigastralgia
Peptic ulcer
Acute and chronic
gastritis

The report lists other conditions within three more categories that are open for further study:

1. Diseases, symptoms and conditions for which the therapeutic effect of acupuncture has been shown, but further proof is needed. These conditions are effectively treated as in the first category but more trials are necessary to establish scientific proof.

2. Diseases, symptoms and conditions reporting some therapeutic effects for which acupuncture is worth trying.

3. Diseases, symptoms and conditions in which acupuncture may be tried, provided the practitioner has special modern medical knowledge and adequate monitoring equipment.

Acupuncture can be utilized for a broad range of illnesses. If you don't see a particular condition on this list, please ask us about it.

(Information from Acupuncture Today October, 2004, Volume 05, Issue 10)