This blog post lists conditions acupuncture treats according to the World Health Organization. It divides conditions by category – where acupuncture has been “proved to be effective”, “shown to be effective but more research is needed”, and where there is “limited proof but acupuncture is still encouraged because there is a lack of other treatments”.
In the old days (ten years ago) research studies on acupuncture were poorly designed and implemented, and results were spotty at best. More recent research has a better understanding of how acupuncture works and studies are designed to accurately test its capabilities. As a result, the general consensus in the Western medical community is that acupuncture is safe and worth trying.
We treat most of the conditions on this list. Check our website for more detailed information on conditions acupuncture treats. We offer articles, testimonials and videos to help you gain an understanding for how we treat, how Chinese medicine works, and what to expect from your treatment.
Proven Results with Acupuncture
Diseases, symptoms or conditions for which acupuncture has been proved – through controlled trials—to be an effective treatment:
Adverse reactions to radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy
Allergic rhinitis (including hay fever)
Biliary colic
Depression (including depressive neurosis and depression following stroke)
Dysentery, acute bacillary
Dysmenorrhoea, primary
Epigastralgia, acute (in peptic ulcer, acute and chronic gastritis, and gastrospasm)
Facial pain (including craniomandibular disorders)
Headache
Hypertension, essential
Hypotension, primary
Induction of labour
Knee pain
Leukopenia
Low back pain
Malposition of fetus, correction of
Morning sickness
Nausea and vomiting
Neck pain
Pain in dentistry (including dental pain and temporomandibular dysfunction)
Periarthritis of shoulder
Postoperative pain
Renal colic
Rheumatoid arthritis
Sciatica
Sprain
Stroke
Tennis elbow
Acupuncture Works
Diseases, symptoms or conditions for which the therapeutic effect of acupuncture has been shown but for which further proof is needed:
Abdominal pain (in acute gastroenteritis or due to gastrointestinal spasm)
Acne vulgaris
Alcohol dependence and detoxification
Bell’s palsy
Bronchial asthma
Cancer pain
Cardiac neurosis
Cholecystitis, chronic, with acute exacerbation
Cholelithiasis
Competition stress syndrome
Craniocerebral injury, closed
Diabetes mellitus, non-insulin-dependent
Earache
Epidemic haemorrhagic fever
Epistaxis, simple (without generalized or local disease)
Eye pain due to subconjunctival injection
Female infertility
Facial spasm
Fatty Liver
Female urethral syndrome
Fibromyalgia and fasciitis
Gastrokinetic disturbance
Gouty arthritis
Hepatitis B virus carrier status
Herpes zoster (human (alpha) herpesvirus 3)
Hyperlipaemia
Hypo-ovarianism
Insomnia
Labour pain
Lactation, deficiency
Male sexual dysfunction, non-organic
Ménière disease
Neuralgia, post-herpetic
Neurodermatitis
Obesity
Opium, cocaine and heroin dependence
Osteoarthritis
Pain due to endoscopic examination
Pain in thromboangiitis obliterans
Polycystic ovary syndrome (Stein–Leventhal syndrome)
Postextubation in children
Postoperative convalescence
Premenstrual syndrome
Prostatitis, chronic
Pruritus
Radicular and pseudoradicular pain syndrome
Raynaud syndrome, primary
Recurrent lower urinary-tract infection
Reflex sympathetic dystrophy
Retention of urine, traumatic
Schizophrenia
Sialism, drug-induced
Sjögren syndrome
Sore throat (including tonsillitis)
Spine pain, acute
Stiff neck
Temporomandibular joint dysfunction
Tietze syndrome
Tobacco dependence
Tourette syndrome
Ulcerative colitis, chronic
Urolithiasis
Vascular dementia
Whooping cough (pertussis)
Limited Research – Still Worth Trying Acupuncture
Diseases, symptoms or conditions for which there are only individual controlled trials reporting some therapeutic effects, but for which acupuncture is worth trying because treatment by conventional and other therapies is difficult:
Chloasma
Choroidopathy, central serous
Colour blindness
Deafness
Hypophrenia
Irritable colon syndrome
Neuropathic bladder in spinal cord injury
Pulmonary heart disease, chronic
Small airway obstruction
Conditions Acupuncture Treats
The authors of the first World Health Organization’s 1999 report on acupuncture are credited for revolutionizing in the world’s perception of acupuncture. Since then there has been a much greater amount of well-designed, published randomized controlled trials (RTCs) on acupuncture. During last fifteen years the results of many RCTs were published, as well as meta-analyses of the effectiveness of acupuncture in the treatment of various diseases. Existing levels of evidence today are much higher than in 1999.
Next Steps
If you are struggling with a health condition that is not responding to Western medical treatment, give acupuncture a try.
BOOK NOW to schedule an appointment online. Or call us at 919-819-8113 and we will schedule an appointment for you.
Meet the practitioners at Raleigh Acupuncture. JINMEI XU and MARK MOLINOFF.
For more information about conditions acupuncture treats feel free to give us a call.
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