Role of Acupuncture in Supporting Cancer Survivors

Acupuncture can play a vital role in helping the growing number of cancer survivors adjust to life after receiving cancer treatments, including surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy. This includes managing the physical and emotional after-effects of diagnosis and treatment, making healthy lifestyle choices, coping with fear of recurrence, learning how to manage a chronic condition, and establishing the "new normal" that is the legacy of a cancer diagnosis and its treatments.

As a guide for practitioners, it aims to help acupuncturists to:

• Understand the challenges faced by cancer survivors who have completed treatment (surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy)
• Understand the biomedical context of the consequences of cancer treatments
• Relate their patient's cancer experience to the principles of east Asian medicine
• Treat some specific consequences of cancer treatment
• Work safely with cancer survivors
• Support cancer survivors on an emotional level
• Help patients come to terms with a chronic condition and adjust to the "new normal"
• Manage expectations of both patient and practitioner
• Access the research that has been conducted in this field.