Can you get acupuncture on the NHS?

Did you know that NHS Leeds (formerly the Primary Healthcare Trust), which governs health services in Leeds, has a policy that means you may be able to apply for funding to cover your acupuncture costs?

NHS Leeds is the organisation responsible for funding and planning NHS services in the city and improving the health and wellbeing of the local population. They may cover acupuncture costs for patients with migraine headaches, pain from osteoarthritis of the knee or hip, foetal breech presentation, chronic low back pain, nausea in pregnancy, post-operative and chemotherapy induced nausea and vomiting, post-operative dental pain and temporomandibular disorders. Your GP would have to check that you fit the criteria for funding, details of which are in the Complementary and Alternative Therapy Evidence Based Decision Making Framework. It is also the GP’s or midwife’s responsibility to check that you have treatment with a registered practitioner.

For more details check their policy on their website or ask your GP for more information.

Athletes Increasingly Embracing Acupuncture

I see an increasing number of athletes in the acupuncture clinic. Many are runners with injuries to tendons or wear and tear injuries. Ankles and knees are commonly affected by the impact of running on hard surfaces, especially during winter. People who regularly lift heavy weights and do intensive training present commonly with shoulder problems. It’s not difficult to appreciate that repetitive actions are more likely to cause injury. This is particularly frustrating for athletes who are keen to resume training as soon as possible and recover to full levels of fitness.

Colleague, Jeanne Rose, here, describes how acupuncture can help to relieve muscle and joint pain, eases stress and anxiety, and possibly improves circulation and therefore promotes healing.

A couple of runners I treat have both commented that they always achieve a new personal best in a race after an acupuncture session. Worth bearing in mind if you want to try to bring something new to your training regime.

Happy Chinese New Year – Welcome The Year Of The Dragon

Happy Chinese New Year! The new lunar calendar began yesterday and what a year it could be! It’s the year of the Dragon.

Colleague, Nick Haines, describes more below about what it means for us all. And read more here about how many Chinese are desperate to conceive a child born in the year of the Dragon.

Acupuncture Effective For Migraine

The US tv news channel c, CBS, here, reports on the effects of acupuncture on lessening the intensity and frequency of migraine.

Using Acupuncture For fertility And In Pregnancy

Colleague, Naava Carman, who predominantly works with fertility and pregnancy highlights in the December issue of Prima Baby magazine how acupuncture can help with issues such as PCOS, IVF, high FSH and lack of ovulation and induction of labour. Read more here.

Acupuncture Helps With Fear Of Dentists

A new study carried out in Austria aimed to analyse whether acupuncture in the outer ear (auricular acupuncture) could reduce fear of dental treatment in nervous patients. Patients were either given the real acupuncture in the outer ear, ‘fake’ acupuncture in the shoulder or fingers or no acupuncture at all. They completed psychological tests before and after the treatment. The researchers found that those who received the real acupuncture in the ear were the most relaxed. This led them to conclude that the use of auricular acupuncture could be a useful tool for nervous patients prior to their dental treatment.

So if you know you’ve got a dental visit planned and it’s making you feel anxious, why not try acupuncture first?

Next Page »