This book aims to answer the questions that someone who is thinking of having acupuncture but doesn’t know much about it might ask. At the outset, it explains that if you want to have acupuncture you don’t necessarily have to take on board a lot of strange ideas. That is because there are now many health professionals (doctors, dentists, nurses, physiotherapists, osteopaths, and chiropractors, for example) who use acupuncture in a modern way with little or no reference to the ancient ideas of yin and yang, meridians, and points. They have reinterpreted acupuncture in the light of modern science and find that it works. We don’t need the traditional theories to explain it.Doing acupuncture in the modern way is as effective as doing it in the traditional way, so it is what I recommend. At the same time, I know that there will be some people who, for one reason or another, will be drawn towards the traditional version, and I cater for those as well.The book explains what acupuncture is, how it seems to work, how you should go about finding a practitioner, what to expect in your first treatment, and what adverse effects might occur. It also describes the main health problems that might be suitable for acupuncture.The book is based on over thirty years’ experience of using and teaching acupuncture.
