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About Acupuncture What Is Acupuncture? Is Acupuncture Right for Me? How Do I Choose?

Glossary Treatment Applications Types of Acupuncture Credentials

Is Acupuncture Right For Me?

Acupuncture can help with a wide variety of maladies. If you suffer from headaches, carpal tunnel syndrome, or back pain, acupuncture may help where other treatments have failed. Acupuncture can also help treat nausea, dental pain, menstrual cramps, tennis elbow, fibromyalgia, osteoarthritis, and asthma. Acupuncture can even help to combat addiction.

Research suggests that acupuncture may be particularly helpful in alleviating pain, or in reducing nausea and vomiting after surgery or chemotherapy. You might consider acupuncture if you're experiencing pain but conventional medical treatments aren't working for you, or if you prefer a more natural, holistic form of healing to taking painkillers or anti-nausea medication in pill form. You should recognize that like all medical treatments, acupuncture involves risks. And people who are afraid of needles probably should not seek acupuncture treatment.

There are many different kinds of acupuncture, each with its own areas of emphasis and philosophical principles, including auricular acupuncture, five-element acupuncture, Japanese acupuncture, Korean acupuncture, trigger-point acupuncture. All are based on traditional Chinese acupuncture, which is still the most commonly practiced form in the United States.