Acupuncture is a form of ancient Chinese medicine in which fine, sterile needles are applied to specific areas of the skin—or acupoints—to stimulate corresponding parts of the body. It is being used to address various conditions, including acute and chronic pain.

Dr. Noel Zosa, a licensed acupuncturist who trained in the United States and has established a clinic in Manila, shares that the cancer patients who have come to him for pain relief and other concerns have left with positive results. 

“After the treatment they feel much better, they feel more energized and all their concerns were treated, whatever it is—pain, headache, nausea, vomiting,” Dr. Zosa relates.

He explains that the advantage of acupuncture as a method of dealing with health conditions is that it helps address the root of the problem. Note, however, that patients may respond to acupuncture in varying degrees.

To Dr. Zosa, “[Acupuncture] treats the organ that’s imbalanced, whatever the person has—pain—acupuncturists get to the root of the problem. Instead of just taking a prescription drug that comes with all these side effects—those drugs will just mask the condition for 3 or 4 hours, and it would come back. With acupuncture, the goal is to get rid of that concern for good, for it not to come back.”