Research
Both the World Health Organization (WHO) and the National Institute for Health (NIH) have endorsed acupuncture for a wide variety of conditions.
Western interest in acupuncture as a medical intervention is steadily increasing and the amount of scientific research on acupuncture has expanded greatly in the past decade. There is now a growing consensus among Western medical researchers that, although the mechanisms are not well understood, there is firm evidence that many disease and pain conditions can benefit from acupuncture.
The World Health Organization has not only endorsed acupuncture as a medically beneficial therapy, but also provided a list of conditions which have shown positive therapeutic effect from acupuncture:
Abdominal pain (acute gastroenteritis/ gastrointestinal spasm) Acne vulgaris Alcohol dependence and detoxification Bell’s palsy Bronchial asthma Cancer pain Cardiac neurosis Cholecystitis, chronic, with acute exacerbation Cholelithiasis Competition stress syndrome Craniocerebral injury, closed Diabetes mellitus, non-insulin-dependent Earache Epidemic haemorrhagic fever Epistaxis, simple (without generalized or local disease) Eye pain due to subconjunctival injection Female infertility Facial spasm Female urethral syndrome Fibromyalgia and fasciitis Gastrokinetic disturbance Gouty arthritis Hepatitis B virus carrier status Herpes zoster (human (alpha) herpesvirus 3) Hyperlipaemia Hypo-ovarianism Insomnia Labour pain Lactation, deficiency Male sexual dysfunction, non-organic Ménière disease Neuralgia, post-herpetic Neurodermatitis Obesity Opium, cocaine and heroin dependence Osteoarthritis Pain due to endoscopic examination Pain in thromboangiitis obliterans Polycystic ovary syndrome Postoperative convalescence Premenstrual syndrome Prostatitis, chronic Pruritus Radicular and pseudoradicular pain syndrome Raynaud syndrome, primary Recurrent lower urinary-tract infection Reflex sympathetic dystrophy Retention of urine, traumatic Schizophrenia Sialism, drug-induced Sjögren syndrome Sore throat Spine pain, acute Stiff neck TMJ dysfunction Tobacco dependence Tourette syndrome Ulcerative colitis, chronic Urolithiasis Vascular dementia Whooping cough (pertussis)
Further, the WHO states that the following conditions have been proven through clinical trials to benefit from acupuncture:
Adverse reactions to radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy Allergic rhinitis (including hay fever) Biliary colic Depression (including depressive neurosis and depression following stroke) Dysentery, acute bacillary Dysmenorrhoea, primary Epigastralgia, acute (in peptic ulcer, acute and chronic gastritis, and gastrospasm) Facial pain (including craniomandibular disorders) Headache Hypertension, essential Hypotension, primary Induction of labour Knee pain Leukopenia Low back pain Malposition of fetus, correction of Morning sickness Nausea and vomiting Neck pain Pain in dentistry (including dental pain and temporomandibular dysfunction) Periarthritis of shoulder Postoperative pain Renal colic Rheumatoid arthritis Sciatica Sprain Stroke Tennis elbow
Appalachian Acupuncture • 113 E. Unaka Avenue, Johnson City, Tennessee 37601 • (423) 928-9394
Monday – Wednesday, 9:30 am – 4:30 pm, and Thursday, 12:00 pm – 5:30 pm