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Looking for commited, motivated associate to replace a colleague who is leaving after 10 years. The position is for tuesdays and saturdays but with scope to increase hours. We are a small friendly team working from a high street clinic in the Stroud valleys. The successful applicant should be confident and professional, able to use a variety of techniques to treat a wide range of patients; good structural skills are essential and an interest in treating animals would be an advantage.
Start date in October.
Please apply by email to Lucinda - enquiries@thewhitepractice.co.uk

Paloma is beginning all new consultations with a phone call to check your risk level, explain the measures in place, talk through any questions you may have and ensure you are comfortable with coming to clinic. 
 
If you are at risk from Covid the consultation part of the session can be done virtually or by phone prior to the appointment if you would like. 
 
If like many of us, you are looking for ways to support your immune system, see Paloma’s article on the scientific studies showing the powerful effect that acupuncture has on enhancing and regulating the immune system – both in healthy people and in people whose immune function is impaired. 
 

There is now a body of evidence that traditional acupuncture enhances and regulates the immune system. Both in healthy people and in people with reduced immunity or illness (elderly people, women with anxiety and cancer patients have been studied) acupuncture has been shown to:

• Regulate the immune system, having an immunomodulatory effect.

 

• Enhance the activity of the immune system, influencing a range of immune cells: lymphocytes, natural killer (NK) cells, and cytokines (inter-cellular messengers that stimulate immune cells), such as TNFα, interleukins and IFNγ (a cytokine produced by NK and CD4 and CD8 cells).

 
Trials on animal models have produced similar effects.
 
In one study on healthy people, cellular or TH-1 immunity was found to be elevated to nine times its previous level 8 days after a single acupuncture treatment (Yamaguchi et al. Acupuncture regulates leukocyte sub-populations in human peripheral blood. Advance Access Publications 2007;4(4)447-453. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2176150/).
 
In a study on elderly people, acupuncture increased the activity of T-lymphocytes to the level of that in young adults, suggesting that acupuncture can counter the lowering of immune function with age. (Pavao T.S. et al. Acupuncture is effective to attenuate stress and stimulate lymphocyte proliferation in the elderly. Neuroscience Letters 2010:484(1):47-50 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0304394010010505)
A study on women with anxiety, a group which has been found to have impaired immune function, concluded that acupuncture effectively regulates the immune system in anxious women. The effect was strongest 72 hours after treatment and a positive effect on immune function was sustained for 30 days after course of 8 treatments (Arranz et al. The Effect of acupuncture on the immune function impairment found in anxious women. American Journal of Chinese Medicine https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20709154/).
A meta-analysis of 31 studies of acupuncture on 1,818 lung cancer patients concluded that acupuncture enhances immune function, increasing the activity of T lymphocytes CD3 and CD4, and natural killer cells (Chen et al. The role of acupoint stimulation as an adjunct therapy for lung cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Bio-Med Central Complementary and Alternative Medicine 2013;13:362 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4029525/).
In another study acupuncture was also found to both enhance the immune response to external threats and reduce markers associated with an over-active, allergic response, having a balancing or modulatory effect on the immune system (Wu et al. Effects of transcutaneous acupoint electrical stimulation on the imbalance of Th1, Th2, Th17 and T reg cells following thoracotomy of patients with lung cancer. Experimental Therapies in Medicine 2016 Feb;11(2) 495-502 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4734236/)