Medical acupuncture administered by a qualified nurse.

Chronic pain

Pain that has outlasted whatever started it, or never had a clear cause to begin with. The aim is to turn the volume down, not to promise a cure.

Back, neck and joint pain

Including sports and overuse injuries, and pain that has not settled with physiotherapy or medication on its own.

Neuropathic pain

The burning, shooting, electric shock kind. Usually treated away from the most sensitive skin rather than straight into it.

Trigeminal neuralgia

Facial nerve pain, treated cautiously and alongside whatever your neurologist or GP has already prescribed.

Pain caused by fibromyalgia

Widespread pain and tenderness. Sessions are kept deliberately gentle, because the threshold is usually low.

Pain caused by FND

Treated as pain, alongside the neurology, physiotherapy and psychology already involved. Nothing here implies it is imagined.

ME

Short, conservative sessions built around pacing. Overdoing it costs you more than it gains, so we do not.

Migraine and tension headache

A preventive course to reduce how often attacks happen, rather than something to do mid attack.

Stress held in the body

Where the symptoms are physical: a clenched jaw, shoulders up by your ears, waking at three and not getting back off.

Assessment

A full history. What hurts, when it started, what you have already tried, what you take, what else is going on in your health. This is the part a nursing background is actually for, and it is why the first session is longer.

Treatment

Fine single use needles, put in and then left in place while you rest. Most people feel a dull ache for a second or nothing at all. You keep most of your clothes on and you are covered throughout.

Plan

How many sessions are realistic, what an improvement should look like by session four, and the point at which we agree to stop if nothing is changing.

Reasonable to expect

• A drop in the intensity of long standing musculoskeletal pain, and a bit more room to move

• Fewer migraine days per month across a course of treatment

• Better sleep and a lower overall pain load in widespread pain conditions

• An hour where your nervous system gets to stand down, which is worth having in itself

NICE guidance supports considering acupuncture for chronic primary pain and for migraine prevention.

Not on offer

• A cure for the underlying condition. Symptoms are the target here

• A reason to stop your medication, skip physio or cancel anything your GP has arranged

• Energy work. Nothing here gets described as a blockage, an aura or a toxin

• An open ended course. If four sessions have produced nothing, that is your answer and you should keep your money

Anything urgent, unexplained or getting rapidly worse goes to your GP or to A and E, not into a treatment room.

First appointment

£75

60 minutes. Full assessment, treatment on the day, and a written plan before you leave.

Follow up

£65

45 minutes. Review of what changed since last time, then treatment.

Top up treatment

£65

45 minutes, every 6 to 8 weeks once your pain has settled. Keeps it from creeping back, rather than starting a course again from scratch.

Where to find the clinic

The Practice Rooms, Wilkinson Street

A treatment room at The Practice Rooms on Wilkinson Street. Level access throughout, free parking, and a calm, comfortable room rather than a clinical corridor.

• The Practice Rooms, Wilkinson Street, Sheffield S10 2GB

• Monday to Saturday, flexible to suit you. Contact Daisy for availability.

• Level access from the disabled car park at the rear of the building. Other access is via 3 steps

• Free parking on site, including free disabled parking

• Close to both tram and bus stops

• 0114 491 0890 or enquiries@pioneer-acupuncture.co.uk