Acupuncture is a traditional Chinese medical practice that involves inserting and removing needles from certain points on the body. The practice has been around for over 2,000 years and has become popular in other countries as people have recognised its positive effect on overall health.

What is Medical Acupuncture?

Medical acupuncture follows a similar procedure to traditional acupuncture but is limited by the fact that it only inserts needles into the muscles and joints. Due to this restriction, it’s often used as a supplementary treatment for chronic pain or injury rehabilitation.

Your medical acupuncturist can insert needles into specific body points in order to help alleviate pain. But that’s just one of the ways an acupuncturist can assist you. It takes years to become a medical acupuncturist — and for good reason. You’ll learn anatomy, physiology, and Chinese medicine to treat your patients.

Not just Chinese Medicine practitioners, but doctors, physiotherapists, psychologists and many others who have studied acupuncture for years all agree on one thing — acupuncture works, it has a positive effect on the body and mind.

While medical acupuncture is often a great treatment option for patients with muscle and joint pain; if you’ve tried it and it hasn’t worked for you, traditional acupuncture may be the right choice. Traditional acupuncture can address a number of different issues — from stress to insomnia.

While both Medical Acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine are influenced by the use of needles, they are two very different systems. Medical Acupuncture is a form of alternative medicine that applies acupuncture therapy to stimulate certain points in the body and relieve symptoms. Unlike TCM, it doesn’t include diagnosis or treatment involving Chinese herbal medicine and Chinese dietary therapy.

Acupuncture is a tool that anyone can use to address health issues — whether they have had extensive training or not. It’s a noninvasive, holistic technique that has been used for thousands of years, and which guides practitioners in finding the root causes of pain and disease. So whether you have had acupuncture performed by a doctor, physiotherapist, chiropractor, osteopath, or other similarly trained practitioners, you have probably had medical — not traditional — acupuncture.

A Traditional Acupuncturist is skilled in the ancient art of Traditional Chinese Medicine and has been practising for many years. A traditional TCM practitioner has undergone many years of study and understands the human anatomy, physiology, and psychology, as well as her own patients’ bodies. They are trained to treat a wide range of medical problems with acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine.