Physiotherapy and acupuncture practice in Denmark

Abstract

Implementing acupuncture in physiotherapy requires careful consideration of ethics, safety and hygiene, rationale of the clinical application, and principles of evidence-based practice. The ethical and evidence-based principles in particular should be borne in mind when implementing acupuncture in the physiotherapeutic armamentarium.

Acupuncture based on the theories of traditional Chinese medicine and obsolete Western theories has to give way to the tremendous amount of new scientific knowledge from basic science and clinical studies. Supported by science, acupuncture is a form of afferent stimulation with clinically relevant effects. Clinical studies showing these relevant effects are primarily based on modern medical acupuncture principles, drawing on modern medical diagnoses and neurophysiologic explanations.

Medical acupuncture has successfully been integrated from an academic perspective in modern Danish physiotherapy practice by the Subgroup for Acupuncture under the Danish Association of Physiotherapists.

Clinical research confirms that acupuncture as an adjunct in the conservative treatment of musculoskeletal nociceptive pain conditions can be a worthwhile supplement.

Osteoarthritis of the hip or knee, spinal pain, and headache/migraine are examples where modern medical acupuncture could be evaluated as a relevant and evidence-based treatment.

Keywords:

• Acupuncture
• Acupuncture rationale
• Ethics
• Safety
• Hygiene
• Evidence-based physiotherapy
• Pain management