ACUPUNCTURE promises to help with a series of medical ailments from back pain, to arthritis to stress. Ahead of Acupuncture Awareness Week, health reporter Kate Liptrot visits a specialist centre in the city.

I'm lying in a large airy, white room feeling slightly frightened to move.

Acupuncture needles are sticking out of my calves, there's one in either wrist and another carefully placed between my eyebrows.

I am at the Northern College of Acupuncture, a huge listed building in Micklegate which has some 500 students either learning at the college or online from around the world for qualifications in acupuncture, Chinese herbal medicine and nutritional therapy.

Following a consultation, supervisor acupuncturist Nicky Thomas and third year student Rebecca McGuire start the treatment which promises to relax and re-energise.

Apart from a slight ache in my leg, I can barely feel the tiny needles, which are much finer than those used for injections and are said to help maintain the body's equilibrium, regulating the body's flow of "qi", the body's vital energy.

The needles in my calves are to boost energy levels - they are in the 'three mile point', stimulation of which is said to help an exhausted person walk another three miles - and the points in my wrist and face are to aid a sense of calm and relaxation.

Left in the room for the first couple of minutes, I admit I'm sceptical about the treatment's effectiveness but as time goes by , I do feel myself relaxing and leave feeling completely de-stressed.

Relieving stress is an objective which fits with next week's Acupuncture Awareness Week, an event run and promoted by the British Acupuncture Council (BAcC) which aims to show how the acupuncture can alleviate stress.

In York, 44 per cent of people say their life is stressful, a survey by the BAcC found, with the majority saying their stress comes from work or money worries.

To mark Acupuncture Awareness Week, the Northern College of Acupuncture is holding an open event on Monday, March 2 from 11.30am to 2.30 pm at its home at 61 Micklegate. Principal Richard Blackwell and tutors will be giving acupuncture tasters and acupressure for people who are not sure about needles.

Denise Magson, the marketing manager at the Northern College of Acupuncture, said: "We all have very busy lives. Everyone is working 24/7 and trying to cram a lot in.

"We want to encourage people to come and try acupuncture out . We are trying to highlight acupuncture can be a good stress reliever."