Family Doctors

Family doctors have a wide variety of opinions about acupuncture, ranging from full cooperation to total non-approval.

The historical paucity of information about Chinese medicine has been partly responsible tor this lack of understanding, and it is only recently that more widely comprehensible presentations of Chinese medical ideas have been available in the West.

In the past, texts tended to be badly translated or so obscure that they required an understanding of the subtleties of Daoist philosophy to interpret their meaning.

But as the effects of acupuncture are becoming better known, more and more family doctors are referring patients to acupuncturists, and hopefully in the future there will be more liaison and exchange of ideas.

At present referrals tend to be dominated by patients who have been given all the drug or surgical treatment possible within the orthodox medical system without this achieving .significant success. As a last resort they are referred to acupuncture.

Of course, this makes the acupuncturist's task very difficult, and underlines emphatically the advice that, if you feel you may benefit from alternative treatment, try it sooner rather than later.

Acupuncturists sec many of the casualties of Western orthodox medicine because of this 'last resort' attitude.

Consequently, they look forward to the time when they will see more patients at a time when treatment can be most beneficial, and thereby prevent the unnecessary and often damaging use of costly drug therapy or surgery.

If you benefit from acupuncture treatment it is always a good idea to tell your family doctor, because this can be a great help in promoting understanding between the two professions.