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Acupuncture has been practised in China for thousands of years. By the sixth century it had spread to Japan and Korea, but it took another thousand years before it became known in the West, when Jesuit missionaries brought back reports to France.
It is now used extensively across much of Europe as well as the United States and Australia, and many GPs, midwives and physiotherapists have trained to use acupuncture needles in their treatments.
Acupuncture is one of the safest medical treatments, both conventional and complementary, on offer in the UK. The needles are used only once and then immediately disposed of. They are extremely thin so there is little or no sensation as they pass through the skin
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Gerard is a fully qualified member of the British Acupuncture Council, the leading professional body for the practice of traditional acupuncture in the UK, whose aim is to ensure the health and safety of the public at all times.
Did you know?
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Seasickness and nausea bands are often worn around the wrist over the acupuncture point called Neiguan, the "Inner Gate". A trial in the maternity teaching hospital in Adelaide involving nearly 600 women found that "acupuncture is an effective treatment for women who experience nausea and dry retching in early pregnancy".
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The 5000 year old preserved body of a man discovered in an Austrian glacier had tattoos that corresponded with acupuncture points that are typically used for treating people with back pain. The findings were reported in the Lancet in 1999. The man, called Ozi the Iceman, was the subject of a BBC Horizon documentary in 2002.
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In 2009 the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) recommended that acupuncture should be made available on the NHS as a cost-effective short-term treatment for the management of early, persistent non-specific lower back pain.
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