Acupuncture
Acupuncture
Overview
Acupuncture at Health Clinic Waverton is provided by a senior AHPRA-registered practitioner, most often used alongside conventional care rather than in place of it. Research supports a modest, measurable benefit for specific conditions — chronic pain, migraine and tension-type headache — while the evidence for other uses remains mixed. We describe what the studies show, including their limits, rather than presenting acupuncture as a cure. Treatment plans are individual, discussed at your first visit, and adjusted based on how you respond over time.
Service Highlights
Chronic pain support
An individual patient data meta-analysis of 39 randomised trials (20,827 patients) found acupuncture reduces chronic pain — including back, neck, shoulder and osteoarthritis pain — beyond placebo, with a modest but statistically significant effect (Vickers et al., The Journal of Pain, 2018 — an update of the original 2012 individual patient data meta-analysis published in Archives of Internal Medicine).
Headache and migraine prevention
Two Cochrane reviews found acupuncture lowers headache frequency: migraine attacks roughly halved for about 50% of patients treated (22 trials, ~5,000 participants), with benefit persisting at six months, and a similar pattern for tension-type headache when added to usual care (12 trials, 2,349 adults) (Linde et al., Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 2016).
Complementary support for anxiety
Systematic reviews — including a 2021 meta-analysis of 20 randomised trials in generalised anxiety disorder (Yang et al., Annals of General Psychiatry) — report a small-to-moderate reduction in anxiety symptoms with acupuncture compared with control treatments, most often anti-anxiety medication, in short-term trials conducted in China. The authors describe the evidence as promising but call for higher-quality trials given high variability between studies, so acupuncture is offered here as a complement to, never a substitute for, medical or psychological treatment.
AHPRA-registered practitioner
Acupuncture is delivered by a senior practitioner registered with the Chinese Medicine Board of Australia under AHPRA. Registration confirms qualification and regulatory standing, not a clinical guarantee — what to expect from treatment is discussed individually before you begin.
Every plan is built around what the current evidence actually supports, reviewed with you at each visit rather than promised in advance.
Tailored health services for you fit
We are a team of senior professional practitioners at your service. Our clinic is located next to Waverton train station, with free visitor parking available on request.
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