Oxford clinic:
Bourton Mill Health and Leisure Club,
6 High Street,
Oxford
OX1 4AB

Carterton clinic:
Broadshires Health Centre
Broadshires Way
Carterton
OX18 1JA

Acupuncture

People are often surprised by the ‘side-benefits’ of acupuncture. We’re used to going to the doctor for one thing – and treatment for that often brings unpleasant side effects. When you come for acupuncture it’s almost impossible to treat you for one thing. We can’t make a diagnosis until we know everything about your health – it’s just the way the system of medicine works.

Acupuncturists work with the concept of ‘Qi’, or life force. You can’t see it, and it can’t be measured scientifically (yet). Acupuncturists can assess the state of your Qi by taking your pulses at both wrists. Although you can’t see Qi, you can certainly feel it. It’s what makes you feel alive. It’s what shifts inside you when you get angry, feel sad or fall in love.

Qi should flow smoothly around your body to keep you in optimum health. All kinds of things can stop that from happening – poor diet, too many late nights, repeated emotional patterns, bad weather – the list is endless. If you put even a small dam in a river, it’s going to have consequences down-stream. Acupuncture points are a way of accessing the flow of energy to free up blocks – so ultimately it’s your own Qi that does the healing.

As I’ve said, Qi can’t be measured scientifically. What we can measure, however, it the effect of acupuncture on the body’s physiology. Post-acupuncture blood tests have shown raised endorphins and haemoglobin levels, and regulation of reproductive hormones.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has an extensive list of clinical trials proving acupuncture’s effectiveness in a huge range of conditions including:

Anxiety / depression, Allergies, Headache / Migraine, Backache, Frozen Shoulder, Digestive disorders, Gynaecological conditions such as heavy and / or painful periods and PMT, Pregnancy Symptoms, Infertility and Neurological conditions.

Your first appointment takes an hour and a half (follow-ups are 45 minutes) because the acupuncturist needs to take down detailed information about your condition – how long you’ve had it, how it’s changed and what other treatments you’ve tried. She also wants to find out about your general state of health – your sleep, appetite, digestion and lifestyle. This information helps to uncover imbalances which might be causing or worsening your condition, and to tailor the treatment to your individual needs.

As well as asking questions, the acupuncturist will take your pulse in three different positions on each wrist. Unlike doctors and nurses, she is not feeling solely for the pulse rate, but more for the shape and strength in the different positions.

Practitioners of Chinese Medicine believe that your vital energy, or ‘Qi’ flows around your body in twelve channels, or meridians (and it’s along those channels that acupuncture points are found). The different pulse positions on your wrists tell the acupuncturist about the flow of Qi in each of the twelve channels. This gives a good picture of your general state of health, and any major imbalances.

She will also want to look at your tongue, and is looking for shape, colour, coating, spots, cracks and movement. These all give information which helps tailor your diagnosis.

Acupuncture needles are made of stainless steel. They are small and fine – usually no thicker than a hair – and come in sterile, single-use blister packs.

It’s difficult to predict how individuals will respond to treatment. The majority of patients find treatment very relaxing – some even fall asleep!

Some conditions respond immediately to acupuncture, and others take a good deal longer. Generally, the longer you’ve had a condition, the more treatments you’ll expect to have, and the more frequently you’ll need them.

On average, you can expect to come once a week for four treatments, and then review the progress with your acupuncturist. By this time both you and she will have a good idea of how acupuncture is working for you, and you can discuss lengthening the time between treatments. Some people will not need further treatment, whilst others work towards coming seasonally for maintenance treatment. Others continue to come monthly because they feel acupuncture keeps them ‘in balance’ physically and emotionally.

Sandy developed her interest in Chinese Medicine whilst living in Hong Kong in the early 1990s. On her return to England, she trained as an acupuncturist at the College of Integrated Chinese Medicine.

Graduates of the college integrate Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), which focuses strongly on the process of disease, and Five Element acupuncture – a style which works with an individual’s constitution and can bring about profound emotional change.

After graduation, Sandy spent time working in a large clinic in Sri Lanka where for many patients, acupuncture was the primary source of health care. She has also trained in Facial Rejuvenation Acupuncture with leading exponent Virginia Doran.

Now practising in the heart of Oxford, Sandy’s patient list reflects the diversity of complaints she became used to treating whilst abroad. She has a particular interest in mental / emotional problems and draws on her extensive training in Vipassana meditation to support her treatment of conditions such as anxiety and depression.

As a member of the British Acupuncture Council (MBAcC), Sandy adheres to strict codes of hygiene and ethics, and has full professional indemnity insurance.

College of Integrated Chinese Medicine

The British Acupuncture Council