Acupuncture
Stress, poor diet, climate, ancestral health, external diseases, toxins, and trauma can alter our bodies natural state of equilibrium.
Acupuncture helps bring the body back to a state of balance. At this point in time, acupuncture is well known for its incredible ability to help relieve pain. What most people do not realize is that acupuncture can help treat every condition and disease that affects the human body. The beauty of acupuncture lies in its ability to provide an overall sense of well-being to all aspects of the human condition: physical, emotional and spiritual. A new patient might come in because they threw out their back, but will continue to come in on a regular basis once their pain is gone because they see how much acupuncture helps with their sleep and energy levels.
What will my first session be like?
During the initial appointment, we discuss your chief complaint. After that, we discuss your health history: all prior illness, conditions, surgeries, etc. Since we are treating the body as a whole, it is important to perform an comprehensive evaluation to see if there are underlying health issues that might be contributing to the presenting dis-ease. In Chinese medicine, we look for patterns. For example, insomnia maybe caused by a number of different pathologies. By doing an extensive review of systems, we are able to differentiate what the diagnostic pattern is by uncovering other signs and symptoms.
Two invaluable diagnostic tools in Chinese Medicine are looking at the tongue and feeling pulses. The tongue and radial pulses helps assess what is going on systemically and also with individual internal organs.
A number of acupuncture points are selected based on your individual diagnosis. Acupuncture needles are sterile, single use, and hair thin. Most people cannot feel the needle being inserted into the skin. Some people notice that it feels like a tiny bug bite that dissipates after a moment. You then remain lying with the needles in for 20-30 min. What comes as a surprise to many first time acupuncture patients is that it can be quite relaxing. It is not uncommon for a patient to fall asleep on the treatment table!
Initial appointments are approximately 75-90 minutes long, and follow-up appointments are 50-60 minutes long.
How many sessions will I need?
Typically, if you are suffering from an acute situation, you might need only a few treatments to get back to health. Whereas a patient that has been suffering from multiple chronic conditions for many years might need to come in for several months of consistent treatment. The healing power of acupuncture is cumulative, thus follow up treatments are important to carry out the effects. If the patient is diligent about maintaining their health outside of the treatment room (healthy diet, lifestyle modifications, appropriate exercise), they can expect to see results more quickly.
Once the patient has returned to a state of balance, monthly or quarterly acupuncture sessions are recommended to maintain physical, emotional, and spiritual equilibrium.
