Acupuncture needles are thin, solid and flexible, many times finer than the hypodermic needles employed for injections and blood tests. Only presterilised, disposable needles are used in this practice, with new needles for each patient, in accordance with strict standards approved by the Department of Health. Oriental medicine has evolved many different ways to treat disease and maintain health. Acupuncture is probably the best known, and is becoming increasingly used alongside, and sometimes instead of, conventional Western medicine. Acupuncture (from the Latin acus and pungere) is the therapeutic use of fine metal needles inserted into precisely determined points on the skin in functional, reversible disorders. These points are called 'acupuncture points' or 'acupoints'. A traditional acupuncturist may use moxibustion, cupping and different forms of massage as well as needles at the acupoints.
