Hay fever, catarrh, allergic rhinitis, perennial rhinitis and chronic sinusitis can all be substantially helped by nNEAP, and, in my experience, perhaps 80% of patients will become free of symptoms for long periods of time. I use nNEAP in conjunction with auriculotherapy which can produce a rapid response. A very large study in Germany with more than 5000 patients (Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology; 2008;5:535-543) showed "acupuncture therapy leads to clinically relevant benefits".

For hay fever, 4-6 treatments are usually necessary but the effect normally lasts over 2 or 3 seasons and is often longer lasting still. Improvement is often very fast and some patients will have benefit right from the first treatment. The response in chronic sinusitis is usually very long lasting.

High quality studies in acute asthma have shown some effect (Fung KP et al Lancet 328:1419-1422) and my clinical experience is that many patients have very good long term responses. Also clinical experience shows that persistent cough which does not clear up with repeated courses of antibiotics, does well with acupuncture in many cases.