Ms. Ellen D. Leonard, L.AC.

Acupuncture can help with inflammation, but part of Traditional Chinese Medicine is food and herbs, so a change in diet or the addition of herbal formulas may also be necessary.

Depression and anxiety are two of my favorite things to treat because acupuncture works so well. So that would be a big YES, it can help with depression. I have even been able to help patients get off their meds (under the supervision of their doctors, of course.)

Acupuncture can help with just about any pain. I would certainly contact a practitioner near you and see what they have to say about your particular circumstance.

Acupuncture can speed the healing and minimize pain of most any injury.

That's a great question, and I spent 4 years in a masters program to find that out. Other than telling you we balance the body's energy so that it can heal itself, I would suggest picking up Ted Kaptchuk's book "The Web that has no Weaver" to get a layman's explanation of a most complicated approach to the body and healing.

Yes, it speeds the process of a cold. You may have it more severely than others for about 3 days, but then you're done, while others suffer through it for a week or two.

Sometimes acupuncture can help the body heal permanently, and sometimes patients need to get what we call tune ups every now and then.

I have heard that some acupuncturists have had luck treating tinnitus, but I have not. Call around to practitioners in your area and ask if they've been able to treat it successfully.

You MIGHT find someone who suggests doing local treatments for a specific injury daily, but most of the time treatments are once or twice a week. More than that exhausts the body.

Yes, it can help with arthritis. Your practitioner may also suggest herbs, essential oils, or a change in diet to get to the cause of the arthritis.

Most back pain can be successfully treated with acupuncture. It takes a series, but most of the time it's very helpful.

Acupuncture is awesome for chronic pain - and we make it not so chronic!!

Every person is different, so I can't tell you how acupuncture would help you. But after examining you, your practitioner will be able to. Call around and find someone who has done fertility treatments in the past. You'll be happy you did!

It depends on the cause of the inflammation. If used immediately after an injury, ice and acupuncture can help reduce the amount of swelling to the area. If you're talking about internal inflammation from autoimmune diseases, I work with patients to get inflammatory foods out of their diets. I'm not sure what kind of inflammation you're talking about, so I would call some practitioners in your area and see if they have treated your issue in the past. Acupuncture can be helpful for just about any problem - it's been around for thousands of years.

Acupuncture, by some accounts, has been around for over 5,000 years and is used in many, many countries. The way I look at it, 5,000 years and billions of people can't all be wrong or making it up. It certainly wouldn't have lasted as a mode of health care if it didn't work. I'd say that was a lot of evidence, compared to the 250 years that modern western medicine has been around.

And acupuncture works for about 75% of the population, whereas western medicine only works for about 33%.

I receive 4 or 5 referrals a week from local doctors, insurance companies, the VA, even pain clinics. I'm quite sure they wouldn't be sending their patients my way if the treatments didn't work.

Acupuncture works on the energies of the body. We don't have sophisticated enough technology yet to be able to measure and gauge what is happening at the points and in the meridians during acupuncture, so western science is still at a loss as to just how to measure it or define how it works. But the National Institute of Health has listed acupuncture as treatment for many problems, so there is enough observational evidence for them to include it in their recommendations.

Can acupuncture help with your neck pain? Nothing is 100%, but most of the time it does for my patients.

Hope this helps. Don't wait. Once you start getting relief, you'll kick yourself for not going sooner.

You betcha! For most types of headaches, including migraines, acupuncture can be extremely effective. Don't suffer with them any longer. Go find a practitioner near where you work or live and start feeling better today!

There are many types and causes of headaches, so I can't tell you how acupuncture would work for yours. I can tell you that it is very helpful in most cases, so I would encourage you to find a practitioner in your area and set up a series of appointments to get yours under control.

I'm sorry, it took me four years of a masters program to learn about how acupuncture works, so it's impossible for me to put it into a paragraph. If you're really interested, pick up the book, "The Web that has no Weaver" by Ted Kaptchuk. It is a great layman's explanation.

But if you're really just asking if it can help your migraines, my answer is yes. I treat migraines very successfully all the time. It usually takes a series of treatments to get them under control, and then patients usually come back periodically for "tune ups" to keep them from coming back. I heartily recommend it for your headaches.

There are many causes of depression, and there are just as many ways to treat it, so I can't tell you how it works for this. I CAN tell you that anxiety and depression are my favorite things to treat because acupuncture works SO WELL for them. So I would suggest calling around to practitioners in your area, finding out if they've treated it successfully in the past, and then plan on going for a series of treatments. You will be so glad that you did!

No, fear not. There is nothing dangerous about acupuncture as long as your practitioner is a real acupuncturist. Some states allow MDs to take weekend courses and then treat their patients with acupuncture needles. I don't recommend that at all. But if you have someone who is fully licensed, you have nothing to worry about. And acupuncture can be extremely effective for back pain.