What does acupuncture treat?

In an official report, Acupuncture: Review and Analysis of Reports on Controlled Clinical Trials, the World Health Organization (WHO) has listed the following symptoms, diseases and conditions that have been shown through controlled trials to be treated effectively by acupuncture:

• low back pain

• neck pain

• sciatica

• tennis elbow

• knee pain

• periarthritis of the shoulder

• sprains

• facial pain (including craniomandibular disorders)

• headache

• dental pain

• tempromandibular (TMJ) dysfunction

• rheumatoid arthritis

• induction of labor

• correction of malposition of fetus (breech presentation)

• morning sickness

• nausea and vomiting

• postoperative pain

• stroke

• essential hypertension

• primary hypotension

• renal colic

• leucopenia

• adverse reactions to radiation or chemotherapy

• allergic rhinitis, including hay fever

• biliary colic

• depression (including depressive neurosis and depression following stroke)

• acute bacillary dysentery

• primary dysmenorrhea

• acute epigastralgia

• peptic ulcer

• acute and chronic gastritis

The foregoing list is absolute concerning acupuncture's effectiveness; however the report continues with three more categories:

1. Diseases, symptoms and conditions for which the therapeutic effect of acupuncture has been shown, but further proof is needed (68 specific conditions). These conditions are effectively treated as in the first category; it's just that more trials are necessary to establish the proof scientifically.

2. Diseases, symptoms and conditions reporting some therapeutic effects for which acupuncture is worth trying (nine conditions).

3. Diseases, symptoms and conditions in which acupuncture may be tried, provided the practitioner has special modern medical knowledge and adequate monitoring equipment (eight conditions).