The 5 Realms · Private Clinic · Watford
Five-Element
Acupuncture
The classical tradition, diagnosing the constitutional imbalance at the root of your symptoms, not just addressing what is visible on the surface. Specialist in women’s health, hormonal conditions, and men’s health.
What is Five-Element Acupuncture?
Five-Element acupuncture is the most classical form of Chinese medicine, predating and distinct from the TCM system that became standard in the West. Where TCM treats patterns of disease, Five-Element acupuncture treats the person: the constitutional imbalance in the element, Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal or Water, that is the root of everything the person is experiencing, from physical symptoms to emotional patterns to their fundamental way of being in the world.
The diagnosis is conducted through what practitioners call the four examinations: observation (colour, spirit, body), listening and smelling (sound of voice, odour), questioning (symptoms, history, emotional life), and touch (pulse quality across twelve positions). The resulting picture is not a disease category but a portrait of a person, and treatment addresses that portrait.
“When you treat the root, the branches look after themselves. Five-Element acupuncture is root treatment.”
The results are often described by clients as something more than symptomatic relief, a sense of returning to themselves, of the energy and clarity and motivation that had quietly, gradually been lost. This is not coincidental. When the constitutional element is addressed, the whole system reorients.
What to expect at your first consultation
The initial consultation is 75–90 minutes. It begins with a detailed history, not just medical, but life history: how you sleep, how you eat, how you respond to stress, what you find joyful and what you find depleting. The practitioner observes, asks, listens and takes pulse readings. Treatment may begin in the first session or may follow a second assessment. Subsequent sessions are typically 45–60 minutes. A course of four to six sessions is usually sufficient to see significant movement, though many clients continue longer-term for constitutional maintenance.
Women’s Health: the specialisation
Women’s hormonal health is one of the areas where Five-Element acupuncture consistently produces results that surprise clients who have been managing conditions for years without significant improvement. This is because Chinese medicine views the hormonal system not as a collection of isolated organs and chemicals, but as a dynamic expression of elemental balance, and treating the element treats the system.
Menopause & Perimenopause
Menopause is understood in Chinese medicine as a natural transition, the redirection of Jing (vital essence) from the reproductive function upward toward the heart and mind. When this transition is rough, hot flushes, night sweats, mood instability, sleep disruption, cognitive fog, vaginal dryness, low libido, it signals imbalance, usually in the Kidney and Heart systems.
- Hot flushes and night sweats: typically Kidney Yin deficiency allowing heat to rise
- Sleep disruption and anxiety: often Heart involvement, Yin failing to anchor Yang at night
- Mood instability and irritability: Liver Qi stagnation or underlying Wood constitutional patterns
- Cognitive fog and poor concentration: Kidney Jing insufficiency affecting the brain
- Fatigue and low motivation: Kidney Yang decline, lack of the root fire of vitality
- Vaginal dryness and atrophy: Kidney Yin and Liver Blood deficiency
Clinical evidence for acupuncture in menopause is substantial and growing. Research published in journals including Menopause and BJOG shows significant reduction in hot flush frequency and severity, improved sleep scores, and improved quality of life measures, effects that persist beyond the treatment period.
Fertility & Assisted Reproduction
Fertility treatment is one of the most well-researched applications of acupuncture. Whether you are trying to conceive naturally or undergoing IVF or other assisted reproductive technologies, Five-Element acupuncture works to optimise the foundational conditions: uterine blood flow, hormonal balance, egg quality (via constitutional Kidney Jing support), stress regulation, and receptivity of the endometrium.
Acupuncture is most effective when begun three to four months before conception attempts, as this covers one full egg maturation cycle. For those undergoing IVF, acupuncture is timed around egg retrieval and embryo transfer to support outcomes at these critical junctures.
PCOS & Endometriosis
Polycystic Ovary Syndrome and endometriosis are conditions that conventional medicine manages largely with hormonal intervention. Chinese medicine identifies distinct underlying patterns, Kidney Yang deficiency with Phlegm accumulation in PCOS, Blood stasis with Kidney and Liver involvement in endometriosis, and treats these patterns directly. The results are often meaningful reductions in symptoms and, in PCOS, improvements in cycle regularity and ovulatory function that support fertility goals.
- Loss of desire following menopause or hormonal shifts
- Low libido related to stress and emotional depletion
- Libido affected by relationship dynamics and trauma history
- Vaginal dryness reducing comfort and desire
- Low libido associated with PCOS or thyroid conditions
- Post-partum loss of desire
- Painful periods, primary and secondary dysmenorrhoea
- Irregular or absent periods, amenorrhoea
- Heavy periods, menorrhagia
- Premenstrual syndrome, PMS and PMDD
- Intermenstrual spotting
- Cycle regulation support
Men’s Health: equally addressed
Chinese medicine’s approach to men’s health is as sophisticated as its approach to women’s, and the taboos that prevent many men from seeking help mean that Five-Element acupuncture often reaches people who have been carrying significant suffering in silence. Erectile dysfunction, low libido, premature ejaculation and general vitality concerns are areas where Chinese medicine has been treating effectively for millennia.
Erectile Dysfunction
Chinese medicine recognises multiple patterns underlying erectile dysfunction, Kidney Yang deficiency (the most common, associated with fatigue, low back ache, feeling cold, low motivation), Kidney Yin deficiency (associated with anxiety, sleep disruption, stress), Liver Qi stagnation (psychological stress, performance anxiety, emotional difficulty), or Heart and Spleen deficiency (overthinking, exhaustion, anxiety). Each pattern requires different treatment, which is why a one-size approach, conventional or otherwise, frequently fails.
Acupuncture for erectile dysfunction combines constitutional treatment with local and distal points that improve pelvic blood flow, regulate the autonomic nervous system, and reduce the anxiety that invariably compounds the condition. Results are typically progressive over a course of six to ten sessions.
Men’s Low Libido & General Vitality
Low libido in men is often dismissed or attributed to stress, a superficial explanation that leaves the underlying constitutional depletion unaddressed. In Chinese medicine, it is most commonly a Kidney Jing and Yang issue, the gradual depletion of the body’s fundamental vitality through overwork, poor sleep, stress and aging. Treatment restores the root energy that supports not only libido but motivation, drive, mood and physical endurance.
Book a Five-Element Consultation
Initial consultation 75–90 min · Private clinic in Watford · Confidential
Other Conditions: what else Five-Element addresses
While Five-Element acupuncture is particularly powerful for hormonal and constitutional conditions, it is a complete system that addresses the full range of human health. Common presentations that respond well include:
- Anxiety and depression: especially where conventional treatment has had partial or limited effect
- Insomnia: particularly difficulty falling asleep or waking repeatedly in the small hours
- Chronic fatigue and burnout: depletion that hasn't responded to rest
- Digestive disorders: IBS, bloating, alternating bowel habit, loose stools
- Autoimmune conditions: as adjunct support
- Headaches and migraines
- Skin conditions: eczema, psoriasis, acne (treated constitutionally)
- Seasonal depression and emotional patterns tied to particular times of year
Frequently Asked Questions
Does acupuncture hurt?
The needles used in acupuncture are hair-fine, far thinner than a hypodermic needle. Most people feel either nothing at all or a brief, mild sensation at the point of insertion. Once the needle is in place, sensations may include warmth, a dull ache, or a slight travelling feeling, these are signs that the point has been accurately located. Most people find the experience deeply relaxing and often fall asleep on the table.
How many sessions will I need?
For acute conditions, changes are often apparent within three to four sessions. For longstanding constitutional patterns, a course of six to ten sessions allows the body to establish a new baseline. Hormonal conditions, menopause, fertility, PCOS, typically respond best to monthly sessions continued over several months. Your practitioner will give you a clearer indication after the first consultation.
Is it safe?
Acupuncture practised by a trained, registered practitioner using sterile single-use needles is very safe. The NHS and NICE recognise acupuncture as a recommended treatment for a number of conditions including chronic pain and headaches. Colin Solomon is a member of the British Acupuncture Council (BAcC) and registered with the CNHC.
Private Clinic · Watford
The treatment begins
with understanding you.
A thorough 75–90 minute initial consultation. The five elements don’t lie. Book yours and begin.