What to Expect during an Acupuncture Appointment?

During your first visit, the clinician will ask detailed questions about your health, history and lifestyle to better understand your underlying constitution and the root cause of your symptoms, and to build a treatment specific to you.

Another important part of diagnosis in the Eastern medicine approach is the examination of the tongue and palpation of the pulse. The clinician may ask to see your tongue and examine its shape, color and coating. The condition of the tongue and the speed, shape and quality of the pulse provide the clinician with information about the overall health of the body, the condition of internal organs, and other disease processes which may be occurring in the body.

After the initial interview and examination, the clinician will determine a diagnosis and treatment for your condition. Treatments may consist of any of several modalities includes moxibustion, cupping, Tui Na, Qi Gong, and Nutrition. 

Your first appointment will last about 60 minutes, with follow-up appointments averaging about 30 minutes. For most conditions, a series of several treatments is required in order for you to achieve maximum benefit. After an initial evaluation, the acupuncturist will provide you with a treatment plan that includes the modalities to be used as well as the frequency and duration of treatment. A normal series of treatments is from six to 12 visits.

Treatable Conditions

Acupuncture is most popular for its effectiveness in alleviating pain. It also helps treat the following conditions:

• Allergies/asthma
• Fatigue and sleep disorders
• Arthritis
• PMS
• Digestive disorders
• Addictions

The World Health Organization (WHO) has listed several other conditions as treatable by acupuncture and East Asian medicine:

Upper respiratory tract

• Acute sinusitis
• Acute rhinitis
• Common cold
• Acute tonsillitis

Respiratory system

• Acute bronchitis
• Bronchial asthma (most effective in children and in patients without other complicating diseases)

Disorders of the eye

• Acute conjunctivitis
• Central retinitis
• Myopia (in children)
• Cataracts (without complications)
• Disorders of the mouth
• Toothache, post-extraction pain
• Gingivitis
• Acute and chronic pharyngitis

Gastro-intestinal disorders

• Spasms of esophagus and cardia
• Hiccough
• Gastroptosis
• Acute and chronic gastritis
• Gastric hyperacidity
• Chronic duodenal ulcer (pain relief)
• Acute duodenal ulcer (without complications)
• Acute and chronic colitis
• Acute bacillary dysentery
• Constipation
• Diarrhea
• Paralytic ileus

Neurological and musculoskeletal disorders

• Headache and migraine
• Trigeminal neuralgia
• Facial palsy (early stage, i.e., within three to six months)
• Pareses following a stroke
• Peripheral neuropathies
• Sequelae of poliomyelitis (early stage, i.e., within six months)
• Meniere’s disease
• Neurogenic bladder dysfunction
• Nocturnal enuresis
• Intercostal neuralgia
• Cervicobrachial syndrome
• “Frozen shoulder”, “tennis elbow”
• Sciatica
• Low back pain
• Osteoarthritis

Why Does Acupuncture Work?

There have been several proposed scientific explanations for acupuncture’s effects, primarily for its effect on pain. Acupuncture points are believed to stimulate the central nervous system (the brain and spinal cord) to release chemicals into the muscles, spinal cord and brain. These chemicals either change the experience of pain or release other chemicals, such as hormones, that influence the body’s self-regulating systems. The biochemical changes may stimulate the body’s natural healing abilities and promote physical and emotional well-being.

The Chinese and other East Asian peoples have used acupuncture to restore, promote and maintain good health for about 2,500 years. Stone needles were originally used, and later bronze, gold and silver needles. Today acupuncturists use sterile, single-use stainless steel needles. The first medical account of acupuncture was The Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Internal Medicine, which dates from the Han Dynasty (206 BCE to 220 ACE). This text outlines the principles of natural law and the movements of life: yin and yang, the five elements, the organ system and the meridian network along which acupuncture points are located.

Western science suggests there are three main mechanisms for acupuncture’s effects:

1. Activation of opioid systems: Research has found that several types of opioids may be released into the central nervous system during acupuncture treatment, thereby reducing pain.
2. Changes in brain chemistry, sensation, and involuntary body functions: Studies have shown that acupuncture may alter brain chemistry by changing the release of neurotransmitters and neurohormones. Acupuncture also has been documented to affect the parts of the central nervous system related to sensation and involuntary body functions, such as immune reactions and processes whereby a person’s blood pressure, blood flow and body temperature are regulated.
3. Changes in blood flow: Acupuncture and Oriental medicine alters the circulation of blood to the affected area, resulting in removal of pain causing chemicals, and restoring normal function to the area being treated.