What happens during an acupuncture appointment?

You can expect a thorough physical exam and to learn about your condition from both western medical and Traditional Chinese Medicine perspectives. You will learn how the condition occurred, and what we can do to change or improve the condition.

You will receive a plan of care specific to you and your health condition. Treatment includes traditional therapies such as cupping, guasha, massage, moxibustion, and acupuncture but also joint mobility exercises, lifestyle and nutritional advice, herbal therapy, and physical therapy/exercise instruction.

How does acupuncture work?

Acupuncture stimulates the body to heal itself.

The insertion of thin, solid, and sterile needles into the skin at specific points induces micro injuries in the skin and surrounding tissue. The body’s own natural response to this tiny injury induces healing and resolves inflammation, increases circulation, and causes the body to release neurotransmitters. Your body’s response to acupuncture needles also helps regulate stress hormones and the nervous system.

Traditional Chinese Medicine classifies and categorizes diseases a bit differently from Western medicine: poor health conditions occur when there is a blockage or obstruction of vital energy called qi within the channels of the body. Identification of the type of blockage and its subsequent removal restore free flow of qi and thereby reduce pain and restore health.

In competent hands, acupuncture is considered a safe procedure with few contraindications or complications. Acupuncture is FDA-approved and quite well-studied. In US studies the techniques I use have been shown to:

reduce inflammation
increase circulation
relax muscle tissue
alter pain sensations
increase the body’s natural opioid production
calm the nervous system

Most importantly, TCM can address conditions that have not responded to other treatments.

Does it hurt? What Can I expect to happen in treatment?

Competent acupuncture needle insertion should induce very little sensation. In fact, acupuncture is considered by most to be nearly painless.

Patients will be positioned comfortably on a warm table, snugly tucked in with pillows and props. As the needle is further adjusted to the acupuncture point, patients will feel the arrival of the flow of qi to the insertion point. This can feel like a slight pressure, a brief ache; heavy, dull, or quickly dissipating sensation.

Once all the needles have been inserted and adjusted the procedure is painless, and the patient can expect to relax or doze for 25 minutes comfortably.

How many visits will I need?

The number of visits you will need depends on several factors: how long you have had your current condition, your underlying health/constitution and how well you participate in making lifestyle changes. At your first visit I will take a detailed health history to determine an appropriate treatment plan based on your signs and symptoms and the physical exam findings of that visit.

More than half of all acupuncture patients achieve noticeable changes in their conditions after one session. Patients with pain conditions can expect to feel better immediately, and significantly better in three treatments. By the fifth treatment, most patients can expect to return to more activity and can space out the frequency of their acupuncture to once a week or once every two weeks.

Recent and acute conditions, like a cold or an infection will only require one or two treatments.

Conditions which require nutritional/ diet therapy like digestive disorders, sleep, skin, and smoking can take a bit longer; approx. 6 or more sessions.

A good candidate for acupuncture is one who makes changes to their work and home life, and one who performs the prescribed physical therapy. Willingness on the part of the patient to be a proactive participant in their health journey always makes for better outcomes.

What are Cupping and Gua Sha?

Cupping is the ancient practice of using glass cups and heat to induce suction on the skin in order to cause a therapeutic bruising called petechial bruising.

Recently, many Olympic swimmers have been seen with the classic circular bruises of cupping.

Gua Sha is the use of a tool (I use a ceramic soup spoon) to induce bruising by scraping or pushing on the skin. Gua sha has been shown in studies to increase local blood circulation through bruising. As the bruising is absorbed, the metabolizing of blood creates an anti-inflammatory and immune protective effect.

Both techniques have been used for thousands of years in Asia to reduce pain and to treat a wide variety of other conditions.

What does acupuncture treat?

Common issues such as nerve pain, pain of the muscles/joints/bones, female reproductive pain, abdominal pain, hair loss, sleep disorders, digestive disorders, anxiety, scars, and various other ailments.

I welcome any and all questions. Feel free to message me for any issues you are experiencing and are curious whether acupuncture can help. I offer a free 15-minute phone consultation.