Tiny Little Pricks

by WiredBerries Editors — February 11, 2008

I was surprised to learn that a rather conservative friend of mine has been trying acupuncture in addition to western medicine treatments for fertility, and my lawyer sister and accountant brother-in-law have been going to an acupuncturist for general well-being for over a year now. Somehow convinced that acupuncture is only for those who distrust "conventional" medicine, I had just sort of respected it from a distance. My appointment isn't until next week, but a little research reveals that this ancient medicine offers promising relief from modern ailments.

According to the World Health Organization, acupuncture (a traditional Chinese system of therapy, in which long, fine needles are inserted through the skin at specific points) has been shown to be effective in relieving a long list of conditions, including:

• Dental pain
• Anxiety, panic disorders, and insomnia
• Low back pain
• Neck pain
• Sciatica
• Tennis elbow
• Knee pain
• Periarthritis of the shoulder
• Sprains
• Facial pain (including craniomandibular disorders)
• Headache
• Temporomandibular (TMJ) dysfunction
• Rheumatoid arthritis
• Essential hypertension
• Primary hypotension
• Allergic rhinitis, including hay fever
• Depression (including depressive neurosis and depression following stroke)
• Peptic ulcer