Acupuncture

At newcastle physiotherapy our physiotherapists are members acupuncture association of chartered physiotherapists so you can be assured of our knowledge, understanding and obligations to adhere to the very highest standards of practice.

We offer acupuncture as a stand-alone treatment if requested, however as chartered physiotherapists we will always carry out a full assessment on your first visit to ensure acupuncture is a suitable treatment for you and your condition.

Acupuncture is used to treat a range of conditions. There is good scientific evidence for its effectiveness in relieving:

• low back pain
• tension type headache
• migraine
• neck pain
• shoulder pain
• joint pain from osteoarthritis or rheumatoid arthritis

In practice acupuncture can be used to reduce pain in any musculoskeletal condition. read more about acupuncture and how it works……

Acupuncture is one of the many skills used within physiotherapy as an integrated approach to the management of pain, inflammation and as a means of enhancing the body’s own healing chemicals in order to aid recovery and enhance rehabilitation. Acupuncture within physiotherapy is used within the background of clinical and research evidence. The concept of traditional chinese medicine is an ancient system of written scripts as far back as 1000bc, founded on the holistic concept of treatment and an acknowledgement of the body’s ability to return to its balanced state of health, given the correct stimulus to do so. The body has the ability to self-repair; the use of acupuncture or acupressure enhances the repair mechanism and enables improved recovery times, allowing other physiotherapy treatments such as exercise, muscle strengthening and rehabilitation to achieve excellent results.

Acupuncture is used by physiotherapists 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, serotonin to promote well-being, to name but a few. They assist the body’s healing process and offer pain relief as a precursor for other manual or exercise therapies.

Conventional acupuncture

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.

Acupressure

Acupressure uses the physiotherapist’s’ hands over acupuncture or trigger points in order to relieve muscle tightness or to stimulate qi flow and balance the body. It is a healing art that uses the fingers of the physiotherapist on the key acupuncture points. the amount of pressure used varies according to the condition and requires trained, sensitive hands. It is often used with sensitive patients, patients with a needle phobia, children or frail patients.