Earlier this year, The National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) authorized the NHS to use acupuncture as a treatment for most of the 1.1 million people in the UK who suffer from back pain.
Good news for back pain but is it good news for acupuncture?
Mike O’Farrell, the CEO of the British Acupuncture Council (BAcC) said they welcome the decision, but fellow BAcC member and Traditional Chinese Acupuncturist Chris Dance thinks the decision “is a double-edged sword.”
“It is not a good thing for the profession, and not necessarily good for the patient,” said Chris, who runs the busy Acupuncture Clinic in Hove, East Sussex.
Western medicine is a reductionist medicine, i.e. it breaks down the human body into component parts, with a specialist for each bit, but acupuncture is a holistic medicine.
Holistic medicine treats individuals as whole people rather than disease labels or specific symptoms. “So when you take a holistic approach, like acupuncture, and try to make it a western technique with protocols, you stop treating the individual, instead you’re treating back pain.”
The NHS treatment is standardized pain management technique. It does not get to the cause of the person’s needs said Chris. “Many people are now getting needles stuck in their back instead of, or as well as other pain relief techniques or physiotherapy.
But because this type of acupuncture, often called dry needling, is aimed at treating lower back pain rather than the individual’s specific cause, it won’t work for everybody.”
So the double-edged sword is because there could be thousands of back pain sufferers who have tried, what they believe to be acupuncture, but it won’t have worked, and said Chris, their experience is likely to have been painful.
“It takes a long time to be able to do acupuncture needling painlessly and with all due respect, the level of training given to health professionals over the weekend is not enough to build up that skill.”
Patients are often astounded at the difference of the level of treatment between doctors and acupuncturists, according to Chris, because with their doctor, “they are often in pain, and may bleed a lot.”
So while the NICE decision generally raises the profile of acupuncture, it’s possible the public experience of back pain may not be very different to what it was before the guidelines came along.
What about you? Had acupuncture on the NHS? I’d love to hear about your experience.
More information is available from The British Acupuncture Council www.acupuncture.org.uk