The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) provides national guidance and advice to improve health and social care.
NICE has been recommending acupuncture as an alternative to medication on the NHS for back pain since 2009, and now recommend acupuncture for back pain and chronic headache as an alternative to drugs. A systematic review in 2012 (3) of 29 RCTs show that acupuncture is successful in :
- back and neck pain
- chronic headaches
- osteoarthrits eg knee
- shoulder pain
Further research shows acupuncture can help slimming, and animal work in Japan using acupuncture has shown an increase in fracture healing. Other conditions that can be benefited are :
- allergies - eg hay fever/eczema
- stress/anxiety
- facial pain
- sciatica
- menopausal symptoms
- infertility