Book Review: Acupuncture in Neurological Conditions

Abstract

Acupuncture in neurological conditions By Val Hopwood, Clare Donnellan. Published by Churchill Livingstone, Edinburgh (2010), 232 pages, £39.99 (hardbound). ISBN 978-0-7020-3020-8. “Acupuncture has been proved to be safe; now would be a very good time to add further clinical evidence of its value in neurological conditions” (p 199) This is a book in three parts, with five background chapters on traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and Western medical approaches followed by a core of chapters focused on clinical treatment in six different areas (acquired brain injury, Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis, spinal cord injury and disease, peripheral nervous system disorders and motor neuron disease), and concluding with a chapter on ‘pulling it together’. There is also a single brief appendix on outcome measures used in neurological rehabilitation, and an index. ### Authors' perspective The authors, both experienced and knowledgeable in the field of neurological rehabilitation, have open-mindedly set themselves the admirable, if unenviable, task of demonstrating how TCM and Western medical acupuncture (WMA) may both be appropriate, and even integrated, in the treatment of central and peripheral nervous system conditions (many of the former being notoriously refractory to most interventions). …