Facts about Acupuncture

Acupuncture is a method of healing that is simple and effective.  It allows us to address pain without drugs or surgery.  While the reasons why acupuncture works are often mysterious, the results are observable.  Most people experience significant relief after a few treatments.

Acupuncture is founded on ancient wisdom from Asia and India, which seeks to balance the patient’s life force, or “chi.” According to this tradition, chi runs through the body like streams trickle through a forest.  When the stream of energy becomes blocked or dries up, the patient will experience any number of complaints.  When we use the needles to ensure that energy is flowing freely, the patient's symptoms are relieved. Modern science is looking at how acupuncture interacts with the nervous system in order to release endorphins and promote pain relief. 

Many of my patients come to me because they are experiencing pain.  Many people are surprised to learn that acupuncture is also very effective for a variety of emotional complaints as well.

Digestive disorders often improve after treatment and many patients report that they sleep better.  Regardless of what made you decide to pursue acupuncture treatment, chances are, we can help you feel your best.

For a list of complaints that the World Health Organization has approved for acupuncture treatment, please click here.

I use a sliding scale of $20 - $50.   You decide what you can afford, based on your financial situation and how often you need to be treated.  

I offer the same effective, holistic care that other acupuncturists offer in a supportive group setting.  This allows me to keep my overhead low.  The low fee is designed to ensure that you can afford to make acupuncture treatment a regular part of your life.  The goal is to get you feeling better.

When coming for your first treatment, you will fill out a one-page health history questionnaire and speak to the practitioner about your reasons for seeking treatment.  Most people wear clothing that is loose so that they do not need to undress for treatment.  Most of the points I use are on the forearms and lower legs.  The entire process takes about an hour.

That depends on why you are seeking treatment.  Acute issues are usually treated every-other day for a week or two.  More long-term issues need more time to resolve.  I often see patients two or three times a week for the first three weeks and once a week after that until the issue resolves.  

Not really.  Each needle is tiny, only the width of two hairs, and flexible.  The needle is only inserted a few millimeters into the skin.  There is a little pinch when the needle is first inserted, but that disappears very quickly.  Before acupuncture, some people fear that the needles will feel like the hypodermic needles that doctors use, but those who have experienced acupuncture will tell you that acupuncture needles are very different. Most patients find the entire experience to be very relaxing.

Acupuncture is a wholistic form of medicine that treats people, not symptoms. Even western medicine is beginning to understand the connection between our immune system, our endocrine (hormone) system, and the level of stress in our lives.

When we experience adverse situations, our bodies pump out adrenalin and cortisol in order to help us perform at our best short term, at the expense of our body's ability to do long term maintainance and repair. When acupuncture helps a patient let go of that stress state, the body starts to activate it's own extraordinary healing capacities. 

So in a way, we really do treat everything. 

That being said, there are certain ailments that have a better response rate than others. 

According to the WHO, acupuncture can treat:

• Low back pain
• Neck pain
• Sciatica
• Tennis elbow
• Knee pain
• Peri-arthritis of the shoulder
• Sprains
• Facial pain
• TMJ
• Headache
• Dental pain
• Acute and chronic gastritis
• Rheumatoid arthritis
• Induction of labor
• Breech birth presentation
• Morning sickness
• Nausea and vomiting
• Postoperative pain
• Stroke
• Essential hypertension
• Primary hypotension
• Renal colic
• Leucopenia
• Radiation/chemo reactions
• Allergic rhinitis,
• Hay fever
• Biliary colic
• Depression
• Acute bacillary dysentery
• Primary dysmenorrhea
• Acute epigastralgia
• Peptic ulcer

This report was based on the compiled research available when it was written, in 2003. Since then, more conditions have been studied using acupuncture as a potential treatment. 

https://www.aafp.org/news/health-of-the-public/20180521acupuncture.html

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/01/170130083228.htm

https://nccih.nih.gov/health/acupuncture/introduction

Acupuncture was developed over 4000 years ago, when all health was viewed as a spiritual matter. It should be no surprise then, that some of this tradition remains in modern acupuncture.

One doesn't have to believe in acupuncture, any religion, or a higher power to have it work. We treat babies and animals successfully and I can promise you that belief does not enter into the equation with their healing.  But many people find that their healing, and indeed their lives, are greatly enriched by the acknowledgment of the Spirit working in our daily lives.

Please know that these discussions are welcome during your acupuncture treatment. For many people, understanding ourselves as a spiritual being having a physical experience is critical to our long term wellbeing. For others, they just want their knee to stop hurting, and that's OK too.