Preventive Medicine and Health Maintenance

Patients return regularly - usually about every three months - for check-ups, to ensure that the initial improvement is maintained and that other problems do not arise.

Physical, mental and emotional factors make a great deal of difference to the ever-changing patient picture. Such an emphasis on preventive medicine and health maintenance has always been a central feature of acupuncture and, indeed, Chinese medicine in general.

By analogy, it is better to take care of a garden when the weeds are small, or even to prevent their growth in the first place, than to wait until they flower and spread their seeds.

 A passage from the foundation text of Chinese medicine. The Yellow Emperor's Classic of Internal Medicine, makes a similar point:

To administer medicines to diseases which have already developed and to suppress revolts which have already developed is comparable to the behaviour of those persons who begin to dig a well after they have become thirsty, and of those who begin to cast weapons after they have already engaged in battle. Would these actions not be too late?

Acupuncture can deal effectively with many acute conditions as chronic ones, but it has the further Strength of being able to spot the start of trouble - before the acute phase begins - by identifying the tendencies that could develop into illnesses.

Treatment at this stage ensures that as far as possible everything can be kept on the best lines for optimum health.Those who follow a consciously healthy diet, or go for regular medical check-ups, are still in a very small minority, however. Most people would only think of visiting a doctor when they arc ill.