Acupuncture is the insertion of very fine stainless steel needles into the skin at various parts of the body.

Acupuncture was developed in China more than 2,000 years ago and remains an important part of modern day Chinese medicine.

The traditional belief is that the life force, chi, flows through our bodies along a number of channels, called meridians. There are twelve main meridians, one for each month of the year. Along these meridians there are special places called acupoints. Originally there were 365 acupoints (one for each day of the year) but now many more are used. Illness occurs when one or more of the meridians becomes blocked or out of balance. The illness can then be helped by putting needles into some of the acupoints to ease the blockage or imbalance.

An alternative, modern, theory is that acupuncture works by releasing natural substance in the body called endorphins, which can help ease pain and other symptoms.

Usually acupuncture involves putting a number of needles into the skin, in different places and pushing them just deep enough so they don't fall out. The needles are very fine and very sharp (and should only be used once) so there is normally almost no pain when they are put in the skin. Some acupuncturists will twist the needles, or apply heat or a tiny electric current to them, to increase the effectiveness of the treatment. The needles are usually left in place for no longer than half an hour and then simply, painlessly, pulled out.

There is no evidence at all that acupuncture can help to actually treat or cure cancer. Having said this there have been studies which have shown that it can help with controlling sickness from cancer chemotherapy and may ease some types of pain. There are also some suggestions that it may help control hot flushes caused by hormone treatments for cancer.

So although it would be very unwise, even dangerous, to use acupuncture as an alternative to normal treatments for cancer it may sometimes help if used along with those treatments to control some symptoms and side-effects.

A few general practitioners offer acupuncture as do a few hospital Cancer Centres but it is not widely available on the NHS.