Why acupuncture can solve more than your health issues this winter
If the findings published by the data analysis company Statista are anything to go by, the UK’s health challenges during the next three months won’t be limited to simply dealing with the symptoms of the various common ailments we see at this time of year.
In its most recent annual report into prevailing health issues in the UK, the organisation revealed the most common conditions experienced by adults were allergies, high blood pressure (hypertension), lower back disorders and depression.
But another key finding of the study is that around a quarter of all adults experienced a delay in receiving treatment for a health problem because of the time it now talks to get an appointment.
In this article I’ll explain why acupuncture is a really effective solution not only for treating most of the ten most common conditions for those living in the UK, but also how, for most non-urgent clinical conditions, this ancient Chinese treatment can also provide the antidote to long GP or hospital waiting lists.
Let’s start with the phone call to the GP in search of an appointment and the now-familiar response, typically, that you’ll either have to go through a remote electronic assessment which may or may not result in a telephone consultation, or that you’ll need to wait for 72 or more hours to see your doctor.
Both of these situations have caused a lot of frustration and resentment over the last four years since the Covid pandemic arrived.
Most of us understood the need for the suspension of face-to-face consultations then, it’s been harder to understand why, when Covid is now a relatively minor health concern, we are still living with the same restrictions at our GP surgeries.
(At the time of writing, data for the week ending December 11 shows there are around 6,000 new cases of Covid-19 – roughly 0.1 percent of the population, resulting in 2,500 hospitalisations. By contrast, hospital admissions for flu stood at around 1,000 – there is no data for flu diagnoses).
But regardless of the arguments about whether the UK’s GP community should be returning to previous levels of face-to-face appointments, the fact is it’s now as hard as it has ever been to get to see your GP.
So, how can acupuncture help?
Acupuncture is a holistic treatment that focuses predominantly on helping the body to strengthen its natural immune system by releasing natural healing energy.
What this means is that even though patients who receive acupuncture often do so to address a specific health concern (more on these later!), the treatment itself has the additional effect of treating all your health conditions to one degree or another, simply by unleashing its natural healing processes.
This is why, in the aftermath of the pandemic and the increasing delays in receiving NHS care caused by lockdown restrictions, an overwhelmed health service, and a slow return to ‘normality’ many people began to explore the benefits of complementary care.
It’s important to say, at this point, that some health conditions and their symptoms require clinical assessment, and so we would always encourage our patients to seek advice from their GP for anything they are concerned about.
In this sense, acupuncture is a fantastic addition to whatever clinical care you may be receiving. But it can also treat or mitigate the symptoms of basic problems such as musculoskeletal pain, common colds and mild infections, allergies, women’s health, and fertility issues, among many others.
Common conditions for which acupuncture might be the answer for you
Looking at the top ten conditions experienced by people in the UK over the course of the year, all of which can broadly be covered in five categories, acupuncture can benefit most patients in some way.
Allergies: Although we’ve probably yet to see the worst of the colder months of the season, it’s probably cheering to bear in mind that spring isn’t all that far away. Within the next 8 weeks, we’ll start to see the daffodils appear, which means tulips and leaf growth won’t be long after them.
But spring also sees the arrival of the most prevalent ‘class’ of non-urgent illness. Allergies, and particularly hay fever, cause misery for thousands of people. But acupuncture can help simply by improving the body’s natural healing response, allowing more effective production of the antibodies and hormones that combat and reduce physical symptoms like itchy eyes, a running nose, and so on.
High blood pressure: I wrote about this very recently. Acupuncture facilitates the release of the natural hormones that help to regulate blood pressure. But, again, hypertension is a serious condition that can lead to serious cardiovascular issues, so you should see your GP if you believe you may be at risk.
Musculoskeletal pain: By releasing or freeing natural healing energy, acupuncture allows the body to be more effective in the production of natural pain-killing and anti-inflammatory hormones.
Depression, stress, and anxiety: Again, I have written extensively on all these subjects and you can get lots of information from our website. Acupuncture allows the body to regulate stress and anxiety responses, helping to manage mild depression and episodic stress. You should seek clinical medical advice if you suffer, or believe you are suffering, with chronic or acute depression.
Respiratory conditions: As already mentioned, acupuncture can improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the body’s immune system, making it better able to fight the common infections that we are susceptible over the colder months.
Acupuncture is painless when performed by a qualified and reputable acupuncture therapist. One session can have a tangible benefit that you’ll identify, but as with most health care, the more regularly you have treatment, the better the outcomes are.
If you’d like to know more about acupuncture for general health over the winter and spring months, please get in touch for a no-obligation, friendly chat!