Acupuncture is arguable, the oldest method of health care known to mankind. Its roots are over three thousand years old. If it is reported that some of the oldest acupuncture needles found date back to the time when people in Britain were still living in caves! These needles are so old they are very thin slivers of bamboo! Very different to what we use today.

The first acupuncturists were believed to be mainly males and held a position of great power in the villages and communities they served. Perhaps a bit like the witch doctors of the American Indians. As communication improved as did the teachings of Chinese Medicine.

A lot of the understanding of acupuncture and the basis of some treatment protocols have been passed down to modern day by the translation of medical texts written thousands of years ago. It is said that the increased prevalence when the Emperor of the day, the so called Yellow Emperor, noticed that his people were no longer living to a hundred years plus. The answer was that due to modern living (some thousands of years ago), people were not living in accordance to the laws of nature.

Not many people know that there are many different forms of acupuncture. Some have derived from Japan and Korea, but even these have roots in the Chinese medical texts. I practice Five Element acupuncture, which is closely associated with looking at our interaction with nature. Five Element is said by some to be the oldest and the style acupuncture which relates closest to the teachings of the Medical texts.

Today we also come across acupuncture as carried out by Doctors and Physiotherapists. In a lot of cases these are based on local treatments to relieve specific issues such as pain. Unlike other types of acupuncture, they don’t resolve the under lying cause.

Acupuncture today is growing in acceptance and research is finally coming up with evident that it is useful in a number of conditions. To such a degree that the World Health Organisation has a growing list of conditions which Acupuncture is recommended as a treatment.