Acupuncture originated in China some 6000 years ago. It is the oldest and most widely used therapy method in the world, and continues to expand and become more accepted into Western culture and medicine.

Acupuncture treatment is a holistic therapy. The interrelationship between mind and body is considered important. Acupuncture is effective in relieving symptoms of a wide variety of conditions. More high quality studies into the effectiveness of acupuncture is needed. Research into effectiveness of acupuncture is in its relative infancy.

In 2017 the Australian Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine Association commissioned John McDonald and Stephen Janz to do a comparative literature review on the effectiveness of acupuncture; The Acupuncture Evidence Project. Quality of evidence ranged from Cochrane Systematic Reviews (CSRs) to randomised controlled trials. This project is currently one of the best sources available evaluating the efficiency of acupuncture on certain conditions and symptoms of certain conditions. To avoid any misinterpretation and without making any claims of the health benefits of acupuncture, I encourage you to personally read this project. More CSRs into the effectiveness of acupuncture will improve future conclusions on the application of acupuncture in the clinical setting.

I have a particular interest in treating women’s health including fertility, pregnancy related symptoms, pre-birth preparation, menstrual and menopausal symptoms.

For musculoskeletal conditions I usually combine manual physiotherapy techniques, cupping and sometimes moxibustion with the acupuncture, depending on the condition treated and on individual patient preferences.

Click here to read Alice's paper on Acupuncture.