Is Chronic Pain Giving You The Needle?

Mark Rice July 19, 2011

In January 2011, the UK Pain Proposal Report drawn up by the charities Action on Pain and Arthritis Care, together with the pharmaceutical company Pfizer, found that the UK was at the bottom of a list of 15 European countries in terms of the negative impact that pain has on people’s home and working lives. Nearly half (45%) of the estimated 7.8 million people living with chronic pain in the UK do not feel that they have access to adequate management of their pain compared to 19% in Germany.

The report explained that chronic pain is responsible for 4.6m GP appointments in the UK each year which costs the NHS around £69m.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the two main issues appear to be time and resources. Not enough time to devote to patients in order that they perceive due care and attention, which in itself can precipitate subjective improvement in the experience of pain, and not enough money to devote to broadening the services available.

I completely understand the time constraints and pressures that NHS professionals have in their daily work and recognise the inherent difficulties in treating an ever more informed and demanding public. However, there are credible complementary approaches that could offer a more complete and satisfactory solution to helping people to manage their painful conditions which are not currently and readily available.

I believe acupuncture is the ideal complement to a person’s current mode of therapy and can make a significant difference to people’s quality of life, especially in the area of lower back pain where the National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE) recommend acupuncture as the most effective mode of treatment.

The recent budgetary cuts mean fewer chances and alternatives which, in my view, can only add to patient dissatisfaction and increase pressure on an already overburdened NHS. Repeat prescriptions can buy time by alleviating the prevailing symptoms but they rarely get to the root of the underlying problem and can have serious side effects if overused.

Confidence and hope are soon eroded by chronic pain and, while it remains true that complementary care isn’t complimentary, it could provide a lifeline to people who are resigned to an uncomfortable fate or feel consigned to that fate by a western approach which has failed to provide much needed and sustained relief.

Acupuncture is a branch of Chinese medicine that has been developed, tested, researched and refined over centuries to give a complex and detailed understanding of the body’s energetic balance. It is not a magic pill but, as is often the case, it could be just the tonic for those who have tried everything else.

Now that I have established my own practice: Turning Point Acupuncture Clinic in Earlsdon, Coventry, I am dedicated to providing this service to the community; to help return people to work and give them the capacity to enjoy a rich, fulfilling and active life.