Doctor who is passionate about acupuncture The blog is for information purpose only
Welcome to my blog

My Guest blog articles and Reviews
Guest blog articles
https://anamayahealth.blogspot.com/2018/03/dr-maggie-ju-talks-about-vulvodynia.html
Reviews and articles
Maggie Ju (2014) Current opinion in acupuncture on stroke rehabilitation
The Journal of Chinese Medicine And Acupuncture Volume 21 Issue 2 September 2014 P9
Maggie Ju. (2015) What Part Does Acupuncture Play in IVF?
The Journal of Chinese Medicine And Acupuncture Volume 22 Issue 1 March 2015 P21
Maggie Ju (2020) The Potentiality of COVID-19 Treatment with Chinese Herbal Medicine in the UK
The Journal of Chinese Medicine And Acupuncture Volume 27 Issue 2 November 2020 P9

Thursday, 28 February 2019
Acupuncture is for chronic musculoskeletal pain, which acupuncture points are more effective?
Tuesday, 26 February 2019
Anxiety and sleep
Acupuncture can help reduce anxiety and make you sleep better. Acupuncture will reduce the brain activity and promote relaxation to calm down the brain. Acupuncture can regulate levels of neurotransmitters (or their modulators) and hormones such as serotonin, noradrenaline, dopamine, GABA, neuropeptide Y and ACTH to relax the brain. Acupuncture produces endogenous opioids that affect the autonomic nervous system. Stress activates the sympathetic nervous system, while acupuncture can activate the opposing parasympathetic nervous system, which initiates the relaxation response. Acupuncture reduce stress and inflammation that associated with anxiety.
References
https://www.acupuncture.org.uk/a-to-z-of-conditions/a-to-z-of-conditions/anxiety.html
Monday, 25 February 2019
Research evidence is emerging for acupuncture on anxiety
The best evidence for acupuncture's effectiveness (Pikington 2010; Pilkington 2007) comes in specific acute anxiety situations such as around medical operations (Mora 2007; Wang 2007; Gioia 2006) or dentistry (Karst 2007).
A review found that four RCTs focused on acupuncture in generalised anxiety disorder or anxiety neurosis, while six focused on anxiety in the perioperative period. All trials reported positive findings
References
https://www.acupuncture.org.uk/a-to-z-of-conditions/a-to-z-of-conditions/anxiety.html
Sunday, 24 February 2019
Acupuncture can help with fibromyalgia
How does acupuncture work? Acupuncture stimulates nerve endings leading to releasing endorphins and other neurohumornal factors and changing the processing of pain in the brain and spinal cord; acupuncture reduces inflammation by increasing production of vascular and immunomodulatory factors; acupuncture improves muscle stiffness and joint mobility by increasing local microcirculation.
References
Iannuccelli C et al Clin Exp Rheumatol (2012) 30:112-6
Saturday, 23 February 2019
Acupuncture is the best option for depression with pain problems
Friday, 22 February 2019
Research has shown that acupuncture is effective for muscle pain
Acupuncture is a useful tool to release trapezius muscle pain. There were 20 women aged ranging from 18 to 40 years with upper trapezius muscle pain for average 5.55 years. They were treated with acupuncture After 9 sessions of acupuncture treatments, a reduction in pain intensity was observed on the upper trapezius muscle on both sides. The Pain pressure threshold increased significantly on both sides at the end of the treatment. A significant increase in the electromyography values of the trapezius during isometric contraction was observed at the end of treatment.
Thursday, 21 February 2019
What is important when using acupuncture to treat chronic pain?
From research point of view, there is a great variation of acupuncture characteristics. MacPherson et al analysed the research trials for acupuncture effect on chronic pain. Majority of research trials (59%) was based on traditional Chinese acupuncture and majority of points (55%) selected were flexible. Most of the research trials are manually stimulated and only a few trials used electrical stimulation and a few trials added with moxibustion. Attempts to obtain de qi sensation were made in all 25 trials which provided this information. The maxium number of sessions varied broadly from 3 to 30 and duration of sessions also varied from 15-32 minutes. The needles or points used were range from 1-18 points. The frequency of treatment was from one session every eight days to two sessions a week.
Their results showed that when comparing acupuncture with sham acupuncture controls, there was little evidence that the effects of acupuncture on pain were modified by any of the acupuncture characteristics evaluated, including style of acupuncture, number or placement of needles, the number, frequency or duration of sessions, patient-practitioner interactions and experience of the acupuncturist. When comparing acupuncture to non-acupuncture controls, better pain outcomes were obtained when more needles were used and also when a higher number of acupuncture treatment sessions were provided. They conclude that there was little evidence that different characteristics of acupuncture or acupuncturists modified the effect of treatment on pain outcomes. Increased number of needles and more sessions are associated with better outcomes when comparing acupuncture to non acupuncture controls. They suggested that dose is the key factor.
There was a report that investigated the outcomes of acupuncture for chronic pain in urban primary care from New York. Patients selected for the acupuncture treatment were over 21 years old with chronic pain caused by osteoarthritis or neck or back pain. Acupuncture was provided by supervised acupuncture students for up to 14 weeks. Pain and function were evaluated before during and after acupuncture treatment. They found that back pain was the most common referring diagnosis 59.5% followed by osteoarthritis 16.3%. Pain severity and function significantly improved at 12 and 24 weeks after baseline assessment. They concluded that weekly acupuncture improved pain severity and quality of life.
Wednesday, 20 February 2019
Stress and sleep, acupuncture can help reduce stress and get better sleep.
In psychology, stress is a feeling of strain and pressure. Small amount of stress may be helpful to have motivation, adaptation and quick reaction to any changes in the life events. Excessive stress can cause harm to the body. Stress can cause insomnia. In the state of stress, the body releases stress hormones –chemicals such as glucocorticoids to help the body to cope with the situation. Glucocorticoids can disrupt sleep and make sleep difficult.
Tried acupuncture to help you release stress and sleep better?
Tuesday, 19 February 2019
Acupuncture is used for women with chronic pelvic pain
Monday, 18 February 2019
Stress and facial tension
Saturday, 16 February 2019
Stress and anxiety
Acupuncture can help reduce stress and anxiety.
Friday, 15 February 2019
Stress makes acne worse
Thursday, 14 February 2019
Acupuncture reduces inflammation
References
F. Zijlstra1 Et al Mediators of Inflammation, 12(2), 59/69 (April 2003)
Tuesday, 12 February 2019
Stress and fertility
Acupuncture can help reduce stress, balance hormones and conceiving.
Monday, 11 February 2019
Stress and fatigue
Saturday, 9 February 2019
10 Reasons why you should see Dr Maggie Ju for acupuncture
2, She was trained in China where acupuncture originated thousands of years ago and offers the best original acupuncture ever.
3, The key point of acupuncture treatment success is all about acupuncture points to optimize the effects. No two acupuncturists use the same acupuncture points for the same conditions. Dr Maggie Ju only uses acupuncture needles on the most effective points to achieve the best treatment outcome. No gimmick.
4, She is passionate about acupuncture and health care. Her dedication and skills of acupuncture are highly praised by her patients.
5, Over the years of practicing acupuncture, she developed unique acupuncture treatment approach and has expertise in many aspects in acupuncture treatments. She is keen on summarising her knowledge and experiences and is an author of a few ebooks in her expertise area.
6, She is practicing at Harley street and Kensington and is a leading acupuncture specialist in the UK. If you want to have acupuncture treatment, you simply want to choose the best.
7, She is the best cosmetic acupuncture specialist that you could get. She was trained in skin medicine and oral and maxillofacial medicine and has a deep insight into the facial aging and how to reverse it.
8, Chronic pain has great impact to people’s life. She helped many people with chronic pain to live pain free.
9, People are under more pressure and stress than that 20 years ago. Stress can affect health in many ways. Dr Maggie Ju’s stress relief acupuncture can effectively release stress, anxiety, mood change, depression, fatigue and insomnia.
10, The last but not the least, she could help to boost fertility for women and men to get pregnant.
Friday, 8 February 2019
Stress and wrinkles and facial acupuncture
Facial acupuncture can help relieve stress, relax facial muscles and promote collagen production to reduce the wrinkles.
Thursday, 7 February 2019
Complementary medicine use in England
References
BJGP Open. 2018 Nov 14;2(4):bjgpopen18X101614. doi: 10.3399/bjgpopen18X101614. eCollection 2018 Dec.
Wednesday, 6 February 2019
Acupuncture is an effective approach to relive the stress
Stress can cause
Hormone imbalance. Stress triggers the release of the hormone cortisol, which changes the body metabolism. Consequently, you would see signs of weight changes gaining weight or losing weight in short period of time. Also, you may see acne wouldn’t go away. Cortisol causes skin oil glands making more oil and if the oil is stuck inside hair follicles creating pimples. Menstrual cycles change is another sign of imbalanced hormones.
Weakening immune system. Stress supress the immune system, cold would not go away or cold come back more frequently. Hair is falling too much because the immune system attacks hair follicles resulting hair loss.
Inflammation and tension in the body. The brain is not sharp causing memory problem because too much cortisol can also make it harder to concentrate. Have headache very often, stress creates muscle tension causing headache. Abdominal pain: stress causes more acid production in the stomach causing bloating and pain in the abdomen. Stress inflames bowels causing diarrhea and constipation.
Anxiety and depression. Anxiety and depression can compromise the quality of life greatly.
A recent research studied the effectiveness of acupuncture on stress. 62 participants were enrolled from a large urban college population and completed the study. 12 week acupuncture were offered to them. The result has shown that acupuncture reduced the perceptive stress significantly.
References
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2005290116301224
Tuesday, 5 February 2019
How can acupuncture help you?
Recently, cosmetic acupuncture has been so popular as an intervention for skin rejuvenation. It is the most natural and healthy way to look and feel years younger. Does it work? This is the first question people ask? The result speaks itself. Come along to have a treatment with Dr Maggie and you will like it.
Where do you often get wrinkles?
With aging, facial expression muscles contracting create lines on the face; collagen production reduces, and damaged skin cells contribute to the firm wrinkle formation. Exposure to the sun accelerates to wrinkle formation.
Wrinkles on the forehead are formed by the frontalis muscle (frontal belly) which is the muscle on the forehead. They attach to the skin of eyebrow.
Crow feet wrinkles are the wrinkles at the out corner of the eye and formed by contraction of the orbicularis oculi muscle which is the ring like muscle surrounding the eye and spreads over the eyelids, temple and down to the cheek.
Wrinkles on the cheek are deep nasolabial groove from the side of the nose to the upper lip are related to four muscles on the check.
Wrinkles around mouth are also called perioral wrinkles, also known as barcode lines or smoker’s lines. They are the fine or deep vertical lines around the mouth and lips. These wrinkles are formed by contracting of the muscle around the mouth called orbicularis oris.
Marionette lines are the vertical wrinkles that can be found at the corners of the mouth. These lines can give the face a downturned expression and make you look sadder, serious, or even angrier. They are related to a few muscles by the mouth.
Sagging skin: The skin can become sagging when it loses collagen and elastin. The most common cause of skin sagging is aging and the skin becomes thinner and looser due to loss of collagen and elastin.
Cosmetic acupuncture can reduce muscle tension, increase skin elastin and collagen synthesis and hydration and help skin cell regeneration. As a result, the facial skin is free of wrinkles, becomes tighter and firmer. This gives you the glowing younger looking skin.
Acne treatment with acupuncture:
Acne is a very common skin disease affecting a majority of the population at some point in their life. Acne is caused by bacteria infection, increased oil production and inflammation. Acne is not life-threatening condition but it does affect people quality of life dramatically and damage people’s confidence. It is one of the most difficult conditions to treat. Acupuncture is used to treat acne effectively.
Stress and anxiety relief acupuncture
Stress is the body's reaction to harmful situations. The symptoms of stress vary from person to person. You feel stressed. This is psychological stress that you can feel mentally. Emotional symptoms include feeling agitated, frustrated, easily getting crossed, easily losing control, having difficulty relaxing and calming down, feeling anxious, depressed etc. Stress is not just psychological, but physical too. People often ignore physical stress. If you have these signs below and no specific causes are found for it, you could be under physical stress: hormone imbalance. Stress triggers the release of the hormone cortisol, which changes the body metabolism. Consequently, you would see signs of weight changes gaining weight or losing weight in short period of time. Also, you may see acne wouldn’t go away. Cortisol causes skin oil glands making more oil and if the oil is stuck inside hair follicles creating pimples. Weakening immune system. Stress supress the immune system, cold would not go away or cold come back more frequently. Hair is falling too much because the immune system attacks hair follicles resulting hair loss. Inflammation and tension in the body. The brain is not sharp causing memory problem because too much cortisol can also make it harder to concentrate. Have headache very often, stress creates muscle tension causing headache. Abdominal pain: stress causes more acid production in the stomach causing bloating and pain in the abdomen. Stress inflames bowels causing diarrhea and constipation. Other physical symptoms include low energy, feeling tired, headache, aching or pain in the body, muscles tension, dizziness, insomnia, digestive problems, frequent illness, loss of libido, shaking, clenching jaw, cold hands and feet etc. Behaviour symptoms include always worrying, lack of concentration, poor memory, feeling slow, being pessimistic, unable to stop eating or eating less. Acupuncture is a best way to relive stress, psychologically and physically.
Pain relief acupuncture
Acupuncture can relieve pain. This is one of the acupuncture’s well-known effects. Acupuncture is used to relieve many pain conditions including a headache, neck pain, back pain, chronic pelvic pain, vulvodynia, prostatitis, bladder pain, chronic abdominal pain, shoulder pain, arm pain elbow pain, hand pain, hip pain, thigh pain knee pain, leg pain and ankle pain etc. You name it.
Vulvodynia
Vulvodynia is a medical condition characterized by nonspecific vulval pain. With up to 15% of women suffering from this condition, you can be sure that you’re not alone if you have vulvar pain. It is a persistent burning or stinging pain of the vulva. It could be a constant pain and get worse when under pressure or it could be only painful under pressure such as using tampon or sex. The pain can be only in the vulvar area. It can also spread to the thigh, tummy or back. Women with vulvodynia could have severe period pain, heavy periods, frequent urination and pain and changed bowel habit. This condition is not life threatening, but it has great impact on a women’s life physically and emotionally. It could affect their daily activity and relationships. Some of them can only stay in bed all the time when the pain is severe. Some women with severe vulval pain feel that it is so difficult to cope with this pain every day especially when they are told that there is no effective treatment and they have to live with the pain all of their lives. Acupuncture can help reduce vulval pain effectively.
Prostatitis/Chronic pelvic pain syndrome
Chronic nonbacterial prostatitis is the most common type of prostatitis. Around 1 in 5 men has this condition at some point in their life. The most prominent symptom is chronic pain lasting longer than 3 months. Pain can be in the perineum, testicles, tip of the penis, pubic or bladder area and may spread out to the abdomen, the back and the rectum. Urination pain and frequent urination can be associated with the pain. The prostate can be enlarged due to swelling and tender due to inflammation. Acupuncture is effective to reduce the pain.
Bladder pain/Interstitial cystitis (IC)
Interstitial cystitis (IC)/bladder pain syndrome (BPS) is a chronic bladder condition. It is a feeling of pain and pressure in the bladder area. Symptoms range from mild to severe. For some patients the symptoms may come and go, and for others they don't go away. The pain may be worse when the bladder is full and may be temporarily relieved after urination. The pain could be worse during periods or after having certain foods or drinks. IC/BPS is not an infection, but it may feel like a bladder infection. Women with IC/BPS may feel pain when having sex. This condition is poorly understood. Apart from the pain, it is also accompanied with problems of urination, such as sudden, strong urges to urinate, more frequent urination than normal, pain when passing water, waking up quite a few times during the night to urinate. The exact cause of interstitial cystitis isn't clear. Unlike other types of cystitis, there's no obvious infection in the bladder. Acupuncture can help reduce the pain.
Low back pain
95% of back pain occurs in the lower back. It is defined as non-specific low back pain, if there is no cause found. Nonspecific low back pain is tension, soreness and stiffness in the lower back region. Acupuncture is very effective for nonspecific low back pain and it helps patients with low back pain reducing lumber surgery rate. This is number one reason that people seek acupuncture treatment.
Hip pain
Hip pain is a common condition that can be caused by a wide variety of problems. The precise location of the hip pain can help to find out the underlying cause. Hip pain on the outside of the hip referred to the upper thigh or outer buttock is usually caused by problems with muscles, ligaments, tendons and other soft tissues that surround the hip joint. Hip pain can also a referred pain from low back. Acupuncture can help reduce hip pain.
Fertility acupuncture and IVF support acupuncture
Acupuncture boosts women's fertility by stimulating nerve endings and brain, as a result increases reproductive system blood flow, reduces inflammation, improves hormone balance, egg quality and reduces stress. It also releases tube spasm and improves uterine lining and uterine receptivity.
IVF is one of the most successful infertility treatments and this treatment brings hope for pregnancy for many people. However, the majority of IVF cycles do not result in pregnancy. It is important to maximize the chance to succeed. Many patients have turned to acupuncture treatments to increase the success rate of IVF. The first report was by Stener-Victorin et al. 15 years ago suggesting that acupuncture can increase the IVF clinical pregnancy rate (CPR). In recent years, there have been many randomized controlled trials (RCTs) evaluating acupuncture in IVF. There were more positive effects from acupuncture during IVF from these researchers.
Energy boost acupuncture
Chronic fatigue and low energy: If you are feeling tired all the time, you are not alone. It could affect about 20% population. At most of the time, this is not caused by severe illness. It could be linked with mood and the accumulation of too much stress. Poor circulation is one of the causes. Microcirculation includes blood circulation in the smallest blood vessels and lymphatic circulation in the lymphatic capillaries. Microcirculation carries oxygenated blood away from the heart through the arteries, capillaries to the tissues of the body. It provides the functional blood supply with oxygen and nutrients to the cells to all body tissue. It picks up carbon dioxide and waste products and returns deoxygenated blood through veins back to the heart. Circulation is the key for body function. It provides energy that body needs and detoxifies the body. If this circulation is poor, the body will not
function well and you could feel tired. Acupuncture can help to boost energy and reduce fatigue.
Other conditions: Regulating hormones and immunity, hot flushes, nerve pain, insomnia, Parkison's disease, MS, acid reflex, IBS, etc
Sunday, 3 February 2019
Acupuncture can help reduce depression and anxiety
The psychological symptoms of depression include: persistent low mood or sadness, feeling anxious or worried, feeling irritable and intolerant of others, feeling hopeless and helpless, having low self-esteem, without motivation or interest in things, having suicidal thoughts or thoughts of harming yourself.
The physical symptoms of depression include: moving or speaking more slowly than usual, changes in appetite or weight, constipation, unexplained aches and pains, lack of energy, loss of libido, change of menstrual cycle, disturbed sleep.
The social symptoms of depression include: not doing well at work, avoiding contact with friends and taking part in fewer social activities, neglecting, having difficulties with other people.
Research has shown that acupuncture can help depression. For example,
There was a study with 120 female patients with depression treated with acupuncture and music. Acupuncture points used include Baihui (GV 20), Shenting (GV 24), Neiguan (PC 6), Shenmen (HT 7), Sanyinjiao (SP 6) and Taichong (LR 3). Result has shown that combined acupuncture and the music, ot acupuncture alone can help reduces the severity of depression and anxiety.
References
Zhang H et al Zhongguo Zhen Jiu. 2018 Dec 12;38(12):1293-7. doi: 10.13703/j.0255-2930.2018.12.011.
Saturday, 2 February 2019
Prefrontal cortex plays a role in pain management including acupuncture
“The medial PFC (mPFC) could serve dual, opposing roles in pain: (1) it mediates antinociceptive effects, due to its connections with other cortical areas, and as the main source of cortical afferents to the PAG for modulation of pain. This is a 'loop' where, on one side, a sensory stimulus is transformed into a perceptual signal through high brain processing activity, and perceptual activity is then utilized to control the flow of afferent sensory stimuli at their entrance (dorsal horn) to the CNS. (2) It could induce pain chronification via its corticostriatal projection, possibly depending on the level of dopamine receptor activation (or lack of) in the ventral tegmental area-nucleus accumbens reward pathway.”
“The PFC is involved in biopsychosocial pain management. This includes repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation, transcranial direct current stimulation, antidepressants, acupuncture, cognitive behavioral therapy, mindfulness, music, exercise, partner support, empathy, meditation, and prayer. Studies demonstrate the role of the PFC during placebo analgesia, and in establishing links between pain and depression, anxiety, and loss of cognition. In particular, losses in PFC grey matter are often reversible after successful treatment of chronic pain.”
References
Role of the Prefrontal Cortex in Pain Processing.
Ong WY et al Mol Neurobiol. 2018 Jun 6. doi: 10.1007/s12035-018-1130-9. [Epub ahead of print]
Friday, 1 February 2019
Feeling anxious all the time? Acupuncture can help
References
Amorim D et al Complement Ther Clin Pract. 2018 May;31:215-219. doi: 10.1016/j.ctcp.2018.02.016. Epub 2018 Mar 1.
Amorim D et al Complement Ther Clin Pract. 2018 May;31:31-37. doi: 10.1016/j.ctcp.2018.01.008. Epub 2018 Jan 31.
Kwon CY and Lee B Med Acupunct. 2018 Apr 1;30(2):73-79. doi: 10.1089/acu.2017.1268.
Depression and anxiety are most commonly treated with acupuncture after lower back pain in the US.
As you can see that depression and anxiety are most commonly treated with acupuncture after lower back pain. Depression and Anxiety are two different medical conditions, their symptoms, causes, and treatments can often overlap.
References
Wang H et al Am J Chin Med. 2018 Oct 9:1-33. doi: 10.1142/S0192415X18500738.
Coronavirus vaccine
In the UK, there are 2 types of COVID-19 vaccine The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and The Oxford vaccine to be used once they are approved. They ...
