Adding western medical acupuncture to your treatment services is a great way to do both.

Training in acupuncture enables you to safely and effectively employ a variety of needling techniques for the treatment of a range of injuries and conditions. Acupuncture, as you may well know, is able to safely reduce pain by stimulating the brain and central nervous system to produce natural pain-relieving chemicals, such as endorphins, melatonin and serotonin. These chemicals are produced when acupuncture needles stimulate various physiological mechanisms within the central nervous system and in the local peripheral tissues. Acupuncture points are chosen specifically with the intention of inducing a strong segmental inhibitory effect. Chemicals produced locally, and by mechanisms at the spinal and supraspinal levels assist in healing and offer pain relief, which is helpful when acupuncture is used in conjunction with other physiotherapy modalities such as manual therapy, exercise and education. Additionally, functional magnetic resonance imaging studies have demonstrated the effect of acupuncture on the pain pathways of the brain.

Acupuncture provides an evidence-based service and increases patient choice while also being a cost-effective treatment due to the low cost of needles (using the AACP discount, needles can cost as little as approximately £0.02 each) all key objectives of any growing physiotherapy department. There is very little, if any, additional treatment time needed, allowing you to retain other treatment modalities while adding an additional service for your patients.

The Acupuncture Association of Chartered Physiotherapists (AACP) holds over 50 Foundation Courses every year, across the UK. These courses give you the skills and knowledge to safely administer acupuncture as part of your physiotherapy treatment. The AACP has grown over the last 30 years to become the organisation that it is today, not only supporting the growing membership but also providing training to ensure members are kept up to date with the latest research findings and newest techniques.