Five Element acupuncture endeavours to find and treat the cause of disease (the fundamental imbalance within each patient), return the patient to balance and then maintain their health in a preventative sense. By treating the patient's core imbalance, and not just the associated symptoms, the patient is restored to their optimum health. It is not always useful and can even be seriously detrimental to simply eradicate symptoms, leaving the cause of disease untreated and ready to manifest in time as yet another set of symptoms. Everything about each individual and who they are as a whole is taken into consideration in Five Element acupuncture as the deep, underlying disharmony within the mind and body is carefully addressed. Specific health issues that lead a person to seek treatment will often improve once this essential level of balance has been reached. Patients also report improvements in general wellbeing, increased energy and a feeling of being more relaxed.