Acupuncture

Watercolour of a woman lying face down on a treatment table, resting on a pillow, with fine acupuncture needles standing in her upper back.

What we use it for

Back & neck pain

Lower back, sciatica, disc-related pain

Migraines & headaches

Chronic and tension-related

Neuropathy

Nerve pain, numbness, tingling

Arthritis & joint pain

Knees, hips, shoulders, hands

What a session is like

We talk first

Where it hurts and what you’ve tried.

The needles

You lie down in loose clothes. Most feel a dull warmth, not a prick.
Sometimes

A gentle pulse

A light current on a few of the needles.

Resting

You rest a while, then they come out.
More about the gentle pulse (electroacupuncture)
  • A gentle electrical pulse runs between a few of the needles while you rest, keeping the stimulation steady.
  • We mostly use it for long-standing pain, and for nerve pain, numbness and tingling.
  • It feels like a light tapping or buzzing, and we turn it down whenever you say.
  • There is nothing extra to book.

Not used if you have a pacemaker or other implanted device, or are pregnant — we needle by hand instead.

What the research says

Wondering whether acupuncture actually works? It’s one of the most studied treatments for chronic pain.

  • The largest analysis to date pooled 39 trials and 20,827 patients.
  • Acupuncture did better than fake needling, and better than no acupuncture, for back, neck, joint, headache and shoulder pain.
  • Most of the improvement was still there a year later.

Vickers AJ, et al. Acupuncture for chronic pain: update of an individual patient data meta-analysis. The Journal of Pain, 2018.

Book a visit

Tell us what hurts and we’ll work out where the needles go.