Acupuncture &
Pain Management
You cannot talk about acupuncture without talking about qi. The idea of qi is fundamental to the Chinese way of life yet there is no direct translation. First depicted as breath, then vapor and steam, it is loosely translated as vital energy and is in a constant state of flux.
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Acupuncture moves qi, blood and fluids in the body using a gentle manipulation of fine gauge needles, affecting flow and moving blockages and in doing so relieving pain.
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Acupuncture has been widely studied for it's anti inflammatory benefits. Needle stimulation has been found to turn on dopamine receptors bringing on a powerful anti inflammatory response in the body and relieving pain.
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Angela uses both local and distal needle techniques to treat pain in the body. Acupuncture may help with neck pain, shoulder pain, back pain, pain from osteoarthritis and knee pain.
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Your treatment may include burning of mugwort near the skin which can reinforce the therapeutic actions of the needles, guasha, cupping and exercises.
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"If there is free flow, there is no pain; if there is no free flow, there is pain" Chinese proverb
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Research on acupuncture and pain management
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According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics Health Survey in 2017-18, roughly ​4 million Australians (or 16.4% of the population) suffer from back pain. Fortunately for them, contemporary scientific research within the last 20 years has produced high quality evidence that acupuncture
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is effective for both chronic and acute pain, and it is often superior to usual care in treating both acute and chronic pain;
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has long-lasting positive effects on pain;
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is a safe treatment for many types of pain (provided it is done by an experienced, registered acupuncturist); and
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is a highly cost-effective treatment for various types of pain.
For more information, see for example John McDonald and Stephen Janz's comprehensive research report The Acupuncture Evidence Project: A Comparative Literature Review from 2016, in which they do a thorough review of much of the research done on acupuncture during the years 2005-2016.