When you come for treatment the flow of your energy will be assessed by taking your pulses on both wrists and looking at your tongue. A treatment will then be designed, from over 500 acupuncture points, specifically for your needs.

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Acupuncture needles are not at all like the needles experienced in Western medicine. The sensation experienced is not the piercing of the skin by a needle, but the connection made when the needle reaches the point intended. This may feel like a sensation of heaviness, a dull ache, or a tingling sensation traveling along the channel. Most people enjoy the treatment, experiencing a feeling of heaviness and relaxation.

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Other techniques may be employed to enhance treatment, such as the smouldering of herbs over acupuncture points to warm and encourage the body's energy, or the use of cupping, an ancient technique using suction to stimulate and move the body's energy particularly in muscular conditions.

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Many patients who have had acupuncture simply feel better in themselves, feeling stronger, more decisive or confident, or less affected by life events. Often they cannot describe how they feel different, yet the evidence is there in their new found abilities. This may enable patients to improve their life situations for the better, often facilitating radical change.

Our centre has a particular interest in treating fertility and pregnancy.

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Common Conditions

 

​For an extensive list of common conditions that may be helped using Acupuncture please click through to the Acupuncturists own websites; Claire, Lola, Donika.

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Acupuncture for Fertility

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Acupuncture can help prepare you and your partner for conception. You may wish to detox before conceiving or indeed may be having trouble conceiving.

For women

 

Treatments are focused on processes that in combination lead to successful ovulation, fertilisation and implantation of the embryo.

Reducing stress, increasing uterine blood flow and motility and regulating the complex interplay between the nervous system and hormone levels. Acupuncture can help to restore ovulation disrupted by conditions such as polycystic ovary syndrome.

Lifestyle advice especially regarding diet, relaxation and moderate exercise can support the treatments.

For men

 

It takes about 100 days for the sperm to develop to maturity and acupuncture during this time can help improve the quality and quantity of sperm.

Assisted Conception

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For men and women undergoing assisted conception, acupuncture sessions can offer a haven of peace and stability through what can be a physical and emotional rollercoaster. By helping you to relax we can support you on your journey.

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Many women have said they really appreciate a space that is focussed on them, with an understanding of what they are going through. Acupuncture can also help to reduce the side effects of the medication and hormones given during assisted conception.

Research has shown that acupuncture sessions an hour or so before and after embryo transfer increased pregnancy rates by 15% in 2002.

 

In recognition of the positive influence of acupuncture on conception rates many hospitals actively accommodate our treatments on site. Our centre is within easy reach of King’s, Guy’s & St Thomas’s and The Lister.

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For more information on the latest research and evidence please click through to the British Acupuncture Council and for information on; female fertility, male fertility or polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS)

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Acupuncture for Pregnancy

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Acupuncture can support women through a range of issues that arise during pregnancy from nausea in the first trimester, tiredness, varicose veins, haemorrhoids and muscle and joint pain at any stage, to turning breech babies in the final trimester.

The treatment for turning breech babies deserves special mention: it does not involve needles, results in a 72% success rate compared with 53% in the control group and can be self-administered at home following a demonstration session.

Other women, concerned by serious complications such as pre-eclampsia during previous pregnancies have had preventative acupuncture during later pregnancies with no complications. It can also offer an alternative to medication for non-pregnancy related issues, like hayfever, and those that may be more prevalent during pregnancy, such as sinusitis, skin rashes or insomnia.

 

Post-natally

 

In many cultures, including China, there are prescribed periods of rest for a month after childbirth to enable the mother to recover. In our culture women often feel the pressure to get back to normal life very quickly, which can contribute to post natal depression, feelings of inadequacy and exhaustion. Support for women at this time is vital.

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Acupuncture has a lot to offer in helping women regain their energy and strength, recover emotionally and physically from what may have been a traumatic birth, encourage milk flow, relieve mastitis and to help the pelvic organs and structures to recover and relieve any accompanying after pains.

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For more information on the latest research and evidence please click through to the British Acupuncture Council; for Nausea & vomiting, Childbirth, Post-natal Care,

 

Acupuncture for Birth; Preparing for birth

 

Weekly acupuncture treatments from week 37 can support the physical changes that need to happen and help prepare you mentally and emotionally for the birth.

 

Induction

 

Before a clinical induction is considered, there are several acupuncture points we can use which can help move things along in a more natural way.

 

Acupressure during birth

 

As part of a pre-labour treatment we can show you and your birthing partner acupressure points that can be used at home or in the delivery room to help with pain relief.

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Is it safe?

 

All our therapists are members of the British Acupuncture Council (BAcC), which means that they have had extensive training in acupuncture and that they practice a recognised and traditional style of diagnosis and treatment.

BAcC accreditation guarantees that practitioners have achieved a high standard of practice and adhere to standards of education, ethics, practice and discipline to ensure the health and safety of patients.

Members of the British Acupuncture Council are bound by strict Codes of Safe Practice, Professional Conduct and Disciplinary Procedures, ensuring the highest standards of professional care to patients. These standards have been drawn up in conjunction with the Department of Health and a Public Health Consultant.