What is Acupuncture?
Acupuncture is a treatment derived from ancient Chinese medicine in which fine needles are inserted into certain sites of the body for therapeutic or preventative purposes. Since then it has been transferred, over the years, into a more modern way of treatment, called Dry Needling, which some of you might have heard of. I will explain this better later in the blog. In traditional acupuncture needles are inserted into specific points of the body that are related to the meridian pathways. These points may be above or below the area of your pain, and often involve targeting points throughout the whole upper or lower limb, also the ear, depending on your injury or condition.
What is Dry Needling?
It’s a form of acupuncture whereby needles are inserted into the local tissue like skin, muscles, tendons and is also used to treat the periost (skin) of the bones. An example is needling the hamstring after the initial inflammatory period to help the healing muscle and prevent it from becoming tight. It is also very commonly used for stiffness in the neck and shoulder region.
For scar treatment needles will be inserted first close to the scar tissue and then into in a next session into the scar itself (this kind of treatment is more for old scars that are still causing problems). Some people like to see it more as a fine version of Triggerpoint therapy – where you look for a tightness in muscles and treat that tight part until you get a release as a response.
What is it used for?
Acupuncture and dry needling are often used to treat pain conditions such as muscular pain and tightness, headaches, nerve pain such as sciatica, and even plantar fasciitis. Believe it or not it can also be used for tearing eyes, scar tissue release, anti-vomiting during pregnancy and even abdominal disorders. Sometimes it can help people with conditions ranging from infertility to anxiety and asthma. Most of the time it can be included in a normal Physiotherapy session, as part of the treatment to get the best outcome for you to get better.
Acupuncture at Kensington Physio & Sports Medicine
All our clinics at Kensington Physiotherapy are acupuncture clinics, whereby we have physiotherapists highly skilled in dry needling and/or traditional acupuncture. Due to our large range of clinical experience in using acupuncture, and our high success rate in getting people better – we pride ourselves as one of the best acupuncture London clinics.
Contact Information
To book an initial consultation with one of our expert physiotherapists at Kensington Physio & Sports Medicine, please call us on 020 76030040 or email us at info@kenphysio.com.
Author: Annabel Gatjen