Jeff Rippey

Acupuncture has an extremely well documented track record with pain including headache and migraine. I'm almost always able to at least reduce the number of migraine episodes and their severity. Sometimes I can resolve the issue.

Can you help with tiredness?
Usually, yes, acupuncture can be an excellent treatment for chronic tiredness/chronic fatigue. It can be helpful if you've had recent blood work so we can rule out potential issues like hypothyroid.

For something like chronic joint pain the effectiveness of acupuncture is going to depend on why, exactly, you're experiencing the pain in the first place.

If this is something like osteoarthritis and the cartilage that normally cushions the joint is gone, the pain can be managed but, in my experience, you'll likely still have some level of pain. Acupuncture and Chinese medicine are not going to re-grow the cartilage.

If this is something along the lines of bursitis/frozen shoulder, acupuncture can often provide a resolution to the issue.

For joint issues, I almost always recommend that patients or prospective patients start with their primary care or an orthopedics specialist. Some imaging and an evaluation gives a much better idea for what's going on in and around the joint, which allows me to be much more specific about how useful acupuncture might be in the case.

Usually, yes, acupuncture is an excellent treatment choice for pain. If you don't know why you're having wrist pain, and especially if there is some recent trauma (like you fell and caught yourself on that arm), it's a good idea to at least have an x-ray or exam by your primary care provider.

Sometimes, yes, acupuncture can help in this situation.

Migraine usually responds well to acupuncture leading to significant reduction in pain and episodes. Sometimes acupuncture can provide complete resolution to the issue.

In my experience, rarely, and it takes a lot of treatment to get there.

I've had a lot of patients who have tried a lot of things to address their tinnitus, again, in my experience, very few things work and it takes treatment over a long time period.

I do a lot of work with chronic fatigue patients. I'm almost always able to make some improvement in their quality of life.

When it comes to acupuncture, there are two things that are difficult to predict in advance:

1. Is any given individual going to respond to treatment?
2. How long will it take to move any given issue into a good spot for the patient?

Based on studies, there are statistical answers to those questions, but those statistics do not tell us anything about how a given individual may respond. Some patients respond very quickly to acupuncture, some very slowly, and some not at all.

Speaking very generally, then, there's a 5% non-response rate. In plain english that means about 5% of the population get no benefit from acupuncture. Of course this also means 95% of the population does see benefit, so the odds are in your favor here. There is no test or other reliable method that can be applied to see whether any given person is in the 5% or the 95% - you just have to try acupuncture and see what happens.

Also speaking generally, a course of therapy is somewhere in the neighborhood of 8-10 treatments. Some patients will require more treatment, some will require less. Again, there is no way to identify who will fall into the mean, and who will not - you just have to try it and see.

Since there's a range of possible responses, prospective patients should be in a position to commit to at least 3 treatments before deciding whether or not acupuncture is providing some benefit.

There is one thing patients can do to maximize their odds of getting good results and that is to make sure they're seeing an NCCAOM nationally board certified and state licensed acupuncturist. You want someone with a Dipl AC/Dipl OM credential and an L.Ac. or R.Ac. credential. Anyone else's training level will be questionable at best.

To find providers with the above credentials, go to NCCAOM.org and use their 'Find a Provider' lookup.

Acupuncture can provide significant pain reduction to migraine sufferers and, sometimes, provides a resolution to the issue.

There are lots of potential treatments for chronic neck pain. Which one you choose to pursue is going to have a lot to do with why you have chronic neck pain - which hasn't been specified here.

Acupuncture does well with almost any kind of pain, anywhere on the body, and occurring for any reason.

Physical therapy is an option as is chiropractic.

Steroid injection, epidural, or prolo-therapy can sometimes provide significant relief. If this pain is due to arthritis, it should be noted that over the long run steroid injection will erode the joint further leading to more pain.

Structured exercise to help rebuild the muscles of the neck and upper back will often help.

Massage can sometimes help.

Conventional pain management using prescription medications can sometimes provide relief.

Sometimes spinal issues rise to the level of surgical intervention.

And sometimes it takes multiple items from this list to help get the pain under control. Everyone wants for there to be one thing that always works. Unfortunately, at least in my experience, this is rarely the case.

Much will depend on why you have poor circulation, what sort of symptoms you're experiencing, and how you define 'fixed'.

Acupuncture has documented effects on blood flow. i've successfully treated things like the pain related to varicose veins, spider veins, Reynaud's, and a few other circulatory related conditions. Sometimes these conditions can be resolved completely, sometimes the symptoms can be reduced and managed, and sometimes it takes acupuncture plus conventional medicine to get a handle on the issue.

Acupuncture can be an excellent treatment option for headache or migraine. Visit NCCAOM.org and use their "Find a Practitioner" lookup to get a list of local , board certified providers.

A lot will depend on why you're experiencing chronic back pain. Do you have an xray or MRI showing spinal degradation/stenosis/arthritis/some other spinal issue? Have you tried other treatment or surgery for this problem?

Acupuncture can often provide relief in cases of low back pain. Physical therapy can help. Sometimes chiropractic adjustment will ease the pain. Massage can be beneficial. Yoga or any structured exercise program that strengthens the core can help tremendously. Eliminating/reducing/avoiding activities that tend to provoke severe pain can go a long way.

Sometimes it takes one or two items from the above list. Sometimes it takes one or two items from above along with conventional pain management (epidural or prescription medication).

The answer to your question is: it depends on who is doing the acupuncture.

Acupuncture and Chinese medicine are currently in a weird position in the US (and some other western countries). There are a lot of providers, on a broad spectrum of training levels, who are currently offering acupuncture or, in some cases, what I like to call 'acupuncture-like' services. Sometimes, depending on state laws, this is completely legal. Sometimes these other providers are skirting the legality a bit. And sometimes state law is silent on what any given provider may or may not do and some simply assume that if they're not specifically prohibited then they are free to practice. Honestly, it doesn't make a lot of sense but that's the lay of the land.

If your provider is an NCCAOM nationally board certified acupuncturist and is licensed as an acupuncturist in your state, then yes, acupuncture is typically very safe.

If your provider doesn't have these credentials, then maybe they're safe.

For the treatment of something like anxiety, most of the folks offering 'acupuncture-like' services (in other words, not board certified and state licensed acupuncturists) would likely be well out of scope and treading in dangerous waters.

Generally speaking, if you're looking for someone who is going to poke needles into your body, you want a provider who is specifically trained in poking needles into people's bodies. That qualification more or less reduces you to either an ABMA (American Board of Medical Acupuncture) certified MD/DO or an NCCAOM certified licensed acupuncturist.

Whether or not your chronic leg pain can be 'fixed' is going to depend on why you have this pain and how you define 'fixed'. There are lots of potential reasons why any given individual might experience chronic leg pain. Some of these reasons might rise to the level of surgical intervention, some cases might be managed to a greater or lesser degree with acupuncture and Chinese medicine, and some cases might be successfully brought to resolution using acupuncture and Chinese medicine.

There can be a few different ways to approach chronic fatigue. Acupuncture and Chinese medicine can be very effective. Dietary changes can sometimes have a beneficial effect. Adding a regular exercise program can also often benefit chronic fatigue patients.

Usually, yes, chronic sinusitis can respond quite well to acupuncture treatment.

Usually, yes. Acupuncture can be an excellent treatment choice for chronic headaches.

Ringing in the ears (tinnitus) is the acupuncture holy grail. I've worked with this issue, off and on, over the past several years for a variety of different patients. A few have made a little improvement after a lot of treatment. For most of them acupuncture had little to no effect.

I've spoken with colleagues and we all agree - tinnitus is extremely difficult to treat using acupuncture and Chinese medicine. If you decide to pursue treatment using acupuncture, you should be prepared for a long haul.