A report from the World Health Organisation (WHO) lists many conditions that acupuncture can treat effectively, these include nausea and vomiting, morning sickness, malposition of foetus in pregnancy, induction of labour, allergic rhinitis, depression, dysentry, dysmenorrhoea (period pains), biliary colic, headaches, hypertension, facial pain, knee pain, low back pain, neck pain, arthritis of the shoulder, rheumatoid arthritis, sciatica, sprains, tennis elbow, pain in dentistry, post operative pain, acute epigastric pain, stroke and adverse reactions to chemotherapy and radio therapy.
The WHO also lists many other conditions where acupuncture has been shown to be effective but further proof is needed. These include absominal pain, acne, alcohol dependence, bronchial asthma, cancer pain, cardiac neurosis, competition stress syndrom, non-insulin-dependent diabetes, earache, eye pain, infertility, facial spasm, fibromyalgia, gallstones, gouty arthritis, herpes zoster (shingles), insomnia, labour pain, lactation deficiency, male sexual dysfunctoin, Ménière’s disease (severe attacks of dizziness and ringing in the ears), nerodermatitis, nose bleed, obesity, drug dependency, osteoarthritis, polycystic ovarian syndrom, post-operative convalescence, prementrual syndrom, prostatitis, Raynaud’s syndrome, urinary infection, retention of urine, schizophrenia, sore throat, spine pain, stiff neck, tobacco dependence, Tourette’s syndrome, ulcerative colitis (inflamation and ulceration in the large intestine) and whooping cough.*
*WHO, Acupuncture Review and Analysis of Reports on Controlled Clinical Trials, 2003, pp 9-10