Q What is acupuncture - and does it hurt?

A Acupuncture has been used for thousands of years to heal disease and alleviate pain. In acupuncture treatment, fine needles are inserted into the skin at particular locations to alleviate the patient's symptoms.

Many people don't like needles, but acupuncture needles are nothing like the ones used by a doctor to take blood. Many acupuncturists will use needles so fine they are like very thin wire, and are usually completely painless when inserted.

The first time you see an acupuncturist for treatment, they will ask you to tell them about your symptoms.

They may also ask you quite detailed questions about your health to enable them to focus treatment to you as an individual - for example, acupuncture treatment differs from person to person.

The acupuncturist may want to take your pulse on both wrists, and to look at your tongue to monitor the function of the body's systems. They will also want to look at where the main problem is with a joint.

The acupuncturist will then select several points on the body into which they will insert fine needles. While the needles are in, it is very common for patients to feel very relaxed - some even go to sleep.

Q How does acupuncture work?

A According to Chinese medical theory, energy, or Qi, flows throughout the body along with the blood, and particularly through 12 major channels or meridians which link with the internal organs of the body.

This flow can be affected by our emotions, attacked by viruses, or accidents, giving rise to symptoms such as headaches, gastro-intestinal upsets and pain.

Where a person has a lot of energy, the free flow is quickly restored by the body, and any symptoms soon go. For many people though, the demands and stresses of daily life continue to affect them, without allowing time for the body to heal.

Rather like an old fashioned clock, where one cog ceases to run smoothly, it affects the next cog, which then impacts on the next one.

Chinese medicine provides tools to work out where the problem began, and then to identify the most appropriate prescription of points to alleviate the symptoms.

Q Would acupuncture help with my arthritis?

A In arthritis, according to Chinese medicine, the problem lies mostly in the channels which carry the energy on the surface of the body.

Chinese medicine classifies arthritis into five main types: hot, cold, wind, damp and bony (and combinations of these).

Many people who suffer will recognise that their own arthritis is worse when the weather is damp or cold (or both, which is very common in York), or when it's hot.

Most arthritic conditions start because the body's energy is a little weak, and respond well to early treatment which removes the local energy blockages and tones the energy of the body as a whole.

However, patterns of symptoms which underlie the arthritic pain are often exacerbating the symptoms and need to be treated too. Unless this happens, the treatment will be less successful.

The sufferer can also do a lot to help themselves by, for example, making sure they stay dry and warm (if their symptoms get worse in cold and damp) by wearing hats, scarves, gloves and by keeping their back and their feet warm.

Those who find their symptoms get worse when they are hot may find an improvemnet by avoiding foods such as curries, chillies, and stimulants such as alcohol, coffee and nicotine.

Updated: 09:56 Monday, March 18, 2002