What can acupuncture be used to treat?

In the Far East acupuncture is used to treat a wide range of complaints, and is also used as a preventative medicine, since it is thought to increase the body’s resistance to infection. In the West, the treatment is often used to relieve headaches, dental pain, back pain, and arthritis, and to treat depression, asthma, stress, high blood pressure and anxiety.

Who uses acupuncture?

Since acupuncture is known to be effective against pain, it is not surprising that many sportspeople have experimented with acupuncture when fighting injury. Martina Hingis, the famous tennis player, had a wrist injury cured through treatment, and English Premier Division football club Bolton Wanderers employ an acupuncturist to keep their squad in good physical condition. While in Korea for the World Cup in 2002, soojichim, a Korean form of acupuncture, was very popular with the German football team.

Cherie Blair, a well-known human rights lawyer, and the wife of the British Prime Minister, was recently spotted wearing an acupuncture needle in her ear, suggesting that she uses the treatment to cope with stress. The Queen of England is also interested in acupuncture, although she doesn’t use the treatment herself – she and many of her family rely on another alternative medical treatment, homeopathy, to keep them healthy.

What are the risks?

Finally, if you do decide to visit an acupuncturist, it is important that you check that they are qualified and registered to practice acupuncture. In the past some people have experienced allergic reactions, broken needles and even punctured lungs while being treated, although this is very uncommon.

Post-reading activities

Find the following words in the text, explain in what context they were used and translate them into Kazakh/Russian, make up sentences using them.

allergic (adj): caused by an allergy.

appendix (n): appendixes a small tube-shaped part inside the body below the stomach.

arthritis (n): an illness which causes the parts of the body where bones meet to become painful and often big.

asthma (n): a medical condition which makes breathing difficult by causing the air passages to become narrow or blocked.

clinical (adj): relating to medical treatment and tests.deaden (adj): to make something less painful or less strong.

dental (adj): relating to teeth.

GP (n): abbreviation for general practitioner: a doctor who sees people in the local area and treats illnesses that do not need a hospital visit.

homeopathy (n): a way of treating illnesses using very small amounts of natural substances.

insomnia (n): when you find it difficult to sleep.

miracle (n): something that is very surprising or difficult to believe.

organ (n): a part of an animal or plant that has a special purpose.

osteopathy (n): the treatment of injuries to bones and muscles using pressure and movement.

preventive (also preventative) (adj): Preventive action is intended to stop something before it happens.

pulse (n): the regular movement of blood through your body when your heart is beating.

puncture (v): to make a hole in something.

reflexology (n): a treatment in which your feet are rubbed and pressed in a special way in order to improve blood flow and help you relax.

sceptical UK (US skeptical) (adj): doubting that something is true or useful.

side effect (n): another effect that a drug has on your body in addition to the main effect for which the doctor has given you the drug.

significant (adj): important or noticeable.

vaccination (n): a substance which contains a harmless form of a virus or bacterium (= extremely small organism), and which is given to a person or animal to prevent them from getting the disease which the virus or bacterium causes.