Services & Treatments

Chinese medicine is a complete system, not a single technique. Acupuncture, herbal medicine, Gua Sha, cupping and Tui Na all draw on the same underlying model of how the body functions — channels of qi and blood, organ systems, patterns of excess and deficiency. They are designed to be combined, and twenty-five years of clinical observation in this practice confirms that the combination almost always compounds the result.

Acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine are the foundational pair. Acupuncture moves and regulates qi and blood directly, in the moment of treatment; herbal medicine provides the ongoing daily nourishment and structural support the body needs between sessions. Patients with fertility, women's health, digestive and chronic-fatigue presentations frequently progress fastest with both running in parallel rather than acupuncture on its own.

Cupping, Gua Sha and Tui Na are added when the presenting pattern includes physical stagnation — muscular tension, dense fascia, restricted circulation, tight upper back and neck — that needling alone cannot fully reach. These techniques are typically included as part of a longer acupuncture session at no extra charge; Amanda will recommend the right combination on the day based on what your body presents.

The honest truth from 25 years of clinical practice is that single-modality treatment is the exception, not the rule. Most real-world cases benefit from a thoughtfully-layered approach — and that is precisely what training across the full traditional system, rather than a single technique, makes possible.

The right combination depends on what you are bringing to the clinic, but 25 years of casework follow recognisable patterns. For fertility and pregnancy support, acupuncture combined with Chinese herbal medicine is the standard recommendation — the literature is strongest on the combined approach, and patients typically work through a cycle or two of weekly acupuncture alongside a daily herbal formula.

For broader women's health presentations — menstrual irregularity, peri-menopausal symptoms, hormonal acne, endometriosis support — the same acupuncture + herbal medicine pairing is usually the right starting point, with the proportions adjusted as your cycle changes.

For chronic pain — back pain, neck pain, joint and muscular complaints, tension headaches — acupuncture is the foundation, almost always combined with cupping and Gua Sha within the same session. NICE cites acupuncture for chronic low back pain and tension-type headache; the cupping and Gua Sha layer accelerates the local tissue change.

For digestive complaints — IBS, bloating, food intolerances, post-antibiotic dysregulation — herbal medicine usually does the heavy lifting, with acupuncture used to regulate the autonomic nervous system and reduce the inflammatory tone that often underlies the symptoms.

For anxiety, low mood, burnout and sleep disruption, acupuncture is typically the lead intervention — its effect on autonomic regulation is rapid and measurable — with herbal medicine added where there is an underlying deficiency pattern that needs daily support to shift.