6 FASCINATING ACUPUNCTURE FACTS
1. It’s at least 2000 years old.
2. The best trained acupuncturists in the US can be found through the National Certification Commission of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine at www.nccaom.org
3. Acupuncturists trained in the US are required to go to 3-4 years of post-graduate training. Just like chiropractors, lawyers, and medical doctors.
4. Chinese research shows that it can be used for most any condition. While western research shows evidence of it helping to relieve hot flashes, anxiety, dry mouth, fertility, headaches, and much more.
5. Negative side effects of acupuncture are extremely rare, especially when compared to conventional treatments.
6. Acupuncture needles are mostly made of stainless steel and are much smaller than hypodermic needles. They do not contain any medications.
What is Acupuncture?
Acupuncture is the practice of penetrating the skin with thin, solid, metallic needles which are then activated through gentle and specific movements of the practitioner's hands or with electrical stimulation.
Acupuncture is part of the ancient practice of Traditional Chinese medicine. Traditional Chinese medicine practitioners believe the human body has more than 2,000 acupuncture points connected by pathways or meridians. These pathways create an energy flow (Qi, pronounced "chee") through the body that is responsible for overall health. Disruption of the energy flow can cause disease. By applying acupuncture to certain points, it is thought to improve the flow of Qi, thereby improving health. Studies have shown that acupuncture is effective for a variety of conditions.
Why would I want to get acupuncture?
People get acupuncture for many different reasons.
For a list of conditions, the WORLD HEALTH ASSOCIATION has deemed appropriate for treatment with acupuncture please visit their website.
What is the acupuncturist looking for when checking the pulse?
Why does acupuncturist look at your tongue?
What is the treatment like?
I always tell clients that loads of people fall asleep on the table. That’s not a requirement—I’m not going to force you asleep or anything—but for people who are nervous, it’s a comforting thing to hear, like: Oh, I’m actually in a place where I’m going to take a nap? People have this misconception that they’re going to get acupuncture needles in and be stuck in this wide-eyed stare until it’s over, and that’s just not how it goes.
What to expect during the treatment?
During the procedure
Acupuncture points are situated in all areas of the body. Sometimes the appropriate points are far removed from the area of your pain. Your acupuncture practitioner will tell you the general site of the planned treatment and whether you need to remove any clothing. A gown, towel or sheet will be provided. You lie on a padded table for the treatment, which involves:
· Needle insertion. Acupuncture needles are inserted to various depths at strategic points on your body. The needles are very thin, so insertion usually causes little discomfort. People often don't feel them inserted at all. Between five and 20 needles are used in a typical treatment. You may feel a mild aching sensation when a needle reaches the correct depth.
· Needle manipulation. Your practitioner may gently move or twirl the needles after placement or apply heat or mild electrical pulses to the needles.
· Needle removal. In most cases, the needles remain in place for 10 to 20 minutes while you lie still and relax. There is usually no discomfort when the needles are removed.
After the procedure
Some people feel relaxed, and others feel energized after an acupuncture treatment. But not everyone responds to acupuncture. If your symptoms don't begin to improve within a few weeks, acupuncture may not be right for you.
How do I prepare for my first acupuncture treatment?
*Set aside time before and after your appointment
*Bring list of all your current medications and supplements
*Eat an appropriate amount before your appointment.
*Wear comfortable clothing
*Avoid caffeine before your appointment
What should I NOT do after an acupuncture treatment?
*No strenuous exercise
*No Caffeine
*No Alcohol
*No junk food
*No ice
*No TV or other screens
*No wind or cold air
What should I do after an acupuncture treatment?
*Rest
*Relax
*Meditation
*Light Yoga
*Stretching exercises
*Epsom Salt bath
*Healthy foods and lots of water!
What does acupuncture treat?
Acupuncture points are believed to stimulate the central nervous system. This, in turn, releases chemicals into the muscles, spinal cord, and brain. These biochemical changes may stimulate the body's natural healing abilities and promote physical and emotional well-being.
National Institutes of Health (NIH) studies have shown that acupuncture is an effective treatment alone or in combination with conventional therapies to treat the following:
· Nausea caused by surgical anesthesia and cancer chemotherapy
· Dental pain after surgery
· Addiction
· Headaches
· Menstrual cramps
· Tennis elbow
· Fibromyalgia
· Myofascial pain
· Osteoarthritis
· Low back pain
· Carpal tunnel syndrome
· Asthma
It may also help with stroke rehabilitation.
Conditions that may benefit from acupuncture include the following:
EMOTIONAL DISORDERS
Anxiety
Depression
Insomnia
Nervousness
Digestive Disorders:
Gastritis
IBS
Hepatitis
Hemorrhoids
Neurosis
Nose-Eye-Ear-Throat:
Rhinitis
Sinusitis
Sore Throat
GYNECOLOGICAL:
Menstrual pain and cramps
Infertility
Misc.:
Irritable bladder
Prostatitis
Male infertility
Arthritis
Sinusitis
Bronchitis
Some forms of impotence
Addiction
What risks are associated with acupuncture?
The risks of acupuncture are low if you have a competent, certified acupuncture practitioner using sterile needles. Common side effects include soreness and minor bleeding or bruising where the needles were inserted. Single-use, disposable needles are now the practice standard, so the risk of infection is minimal. Not everyone is a good candidate for acupuncture. You may be at risk of complications if you:
Have a bleeding disorder. Your chances of bleeding or bruising from the needles increase if you have a bleeding disorder or if you're taking blood thinners.
Have a pacemaker. Acupuncture that involves applying mild electrical pulses to the needles can interfere with a pacemaker's operation.
Are pregnant. Some types of acupuncture are thought to stimulate labor, which could result in a premature delivery.
Are needles sterilized?
YES! Acupuncture needles ae required by LAW to be single use only. Each needle (usually made of stainless steel) is contained in sterilized packaging and NEVER reused.
Does Acupuncture hurt?
Acupuncture is done using hair-thin needles. Most people report feeling minimal pain as the needle is inserted. The needle is inserted to a point that produces a sensation of pressure or ache. Needles may be heated during the treatment or mild electric current may be applied to them.
HOW BIG/SMALL ARE THE NEEDLES?
What do you do to soothe clients who are having a hard time?
As an acupuncturist, you must have so much sensitivity and caring around the fact that someone has a fear of needles and is coming to you—a person who works with needles—for healing. I’m very careful not to dismiss that fear. Fears are valid, and they happen for a reason. There’s no reason to say, “You shouldn’t be afraid.” That’s not the way in.
It’s all about making people feel relaxed and safe and comfortable. That alone goes such a long way to helping them to be open to the experience. I’ll have them lie down on the table under an infrared heat lamp, which is pleasantly warm, and I have them take a few deep breaths of an essential oil that I’ll put on their chest or in my hands. I’ll do some healing touch and rub their feet. I use sound healing. And crystal healing, too: I place crystals all over the body during every acupuncture appointment, and when someone’s nervous about needles, sometimes I’ll do that first. It gives them a little introduction to how stimulating the tender points on their body can feel good.
What if I have needle Phobia?
The primary question that comes up is fear of needles. People worry that acupuncture is going to be painful. Or even if it’s not necessarily about pain, people have no idea what to expect in terms of the sensation. That can be such a big mental block that whatever other worries might come after that are hard to even imagine. Everything else is so far down the list.
I always start by showing them the needles we use. Really, you can think of the acupuncture needle as more of a pin. It’s much thinner than the needles most people have experience with and might be scared of. It has the diameter of a strand of hair. It’s somewhat soft. It bends with very little pressure.
Acupuncture needles can also slip right between the skin cells rather than tearing through them. You’re not pushing this rigid thing into your skin. So, in most cases, there’s no blood whatsoever. And even if we hit a tiny blood vessel, it’s just the smallest drop.
How does it feel to have an acupuncture needle put in?
Acupuncture needles are very thin, and most people feel no pain or very little pain when they are inserted. They often say they feel energized or relaxed after the treatment. However, the needles can cause temporary soreness.
Sometimes, as I’m walking people through what it’s going to be like, I’ll go ahead and insert the first needle. Then I let them know the first one’s in, and they’re often like, “Oh, I barely even felt that.” Admittedly, it’s a little trickery on my part, but they have this realization that whatever they thought was going to happen is not at all what just happened.
There might be a little bit of prickly sensation at first, and then for most people that sensation either dissipates or remains in a way that is pleasantly dull and achy. It feels like there’s something happening, but it doesn’t feel like you’re lying there with something sharp in your skin.
That dull sensation has a name: In Chinese medicine, it’s called a de qi sensation. The de qi sensation is like a heavy, descending feeling. If I were to make it in a sound, it would be bass-y, like, “Wom, wom, wom.” Like a heartbeat.
That de qi sensation also has an energetic effect that you can feel if you’re sensitive. If the feeling happens to be along a meridian, someone might feel like, Oh my gosh, I felt that kind of move up my leg. Or they might feel it move into their shoulder, or they might identify the feeling of a muscle relaxing. That’s because what we’re doing in acupuncture is getting the qi to move. That dull, achy pain when the needle goes in tells me: Okay, we’ve grabbed the qi. That’s what we want. We did what we intended to do.
Some of the very delicate tissues, like on the face or right on the wrist, will feel a little more sensitive, but it should never remain that way. I’m always reassuring people that if a needle placement feels sharp or uncomfortable, we’re going to move it. Sharpness or discomfort is not the de qi sensation. That’s not our goal.
in bio-medical terms, is that no one has a definitive explanation. There have been many attempts to nail down The One Reason acupuncture works, but to our knowledge no one has got it - yet. Likely there isn't one factor, but that many reactions going on at once involving different systems - including the central nervous system – that allow acupuncture to have such wide, strong, and lasting effects. This can be seen by people predictably being eased out of the “fight or flight” response (sympathetic) into the “rest and recuperate” state (parasympathetic) once needles are placed during a treatment. If you have been told or have read that there is one factor to account for how acupuncture works, that explanation is probably not the whole picture. The most referenced studies on the topic of how acupuncture works have been directed and written by Dr. Bruce Pomerantz, an American physician. Through his ongoing studies, he and his colleagues have found that the body produces measurable amounts of endorphins (natural 'pain-killing' chemicals) when receiving acupuncture. For a time, this was thought to be the breakthrough understanding for the mechanism of acupuncture's effect. In our opinion however, there are limits to this explanation. For instance, his initial landmark study involved some very aggressive acupuncture needling followed by electricity added to the needles. It was only under these circumstances that the measurable amount of endorphins were identified. This does little to explain how much more subtle needling (like the sort seen in most acupuncture clinics) would initiate changes and cause reduction in pain or improve function, for example. Dr. Pomerantz seems to acknowledge that his research conducted to this point, offers partial explanations.5
Why is there a bruise after the acupuncture treatment?
Acupuncture works by stimulating certain points on the body with tiny needles that penetrate the skin and activate self-healing. Though the needles are extremely fine, they sometimes hit small blood vessels, causing a minor bruise to form in that area. Typically, these bruises are painless.
How long do the needles stay in?
In most cases, the needles remain in place for 10 to 20 minutes while you lie still and relax. There is usually no discomfort when the needles are removed.
How do you know if acupuncture is working?
Acupuncture needles are much thinner than medical needles, and they are solid, not hollow. The needles may cause some muscle sensations, such as dull ache or tingling. Your practitioner will ask you to report when you feel a deep heaviness or numbness. Those sensations usually mean the treatment is working.
Is it the same point prescription every treatment?
Each person who performs acupuncture has a unique style, often blending aspects of Eastern and Western approaches to medicine. To determine the type of acupuncture treatment that will help you the most, your practitioner may ask you about your symptoms, behaviors, and lifestyle. He or she may also closely examine:
· The parts of your body that are painful
· The shape, coating, and color of your tongue
· The color of your face
· The strength, rhythm, and quality of the pulse in your wrist
This initial evaluation and treatment may take up to 60 minutes. Subsequent appointments usually take about a half-hour. A common treatment plan for a single complaint would typically involve one or two treatments a week. The number of treatments will depend on the condition being treated and its severity. In general, it's common to receive six to eight treatments.
Can Acupuncture make you feel wiped out?
A common result of acupuncture is increased energy, but occasionally people can feel wiped out after. If this happens, it is just your body letting you know that it has depleted energy. Although, it isn’t a cause for concern, it is your body telling you that you need to rest.
What are negative side effects?
Although rare, few people experience negative side effects to acupuncture. None are life threatening and all are short lived, but they are still good to be aware of. However, it's important for you to know that these are all completely normal side effects and nothing to be too concerned over.
Worse symptoms:
Most people feel better after a treatment, some do feel worse before they get better.
As your body begins to feel the changes involved in working on your health, toxins, energies, and many other things can get stirred up. This can cause a spike in current symptoms but can also bring up illnesses that have been lying dormant.
Fatigue is a common result in some after having acupuncture done.
Some people may have some intensified symptoms. Acupuncture stimulates the body to heal faster, and as a result, it can intensify symptoms as your body works through it. The increased intensity means that your body is healing.
A heavy sensation is very common in certain areas more than others after an acupuncture treatment.
Some soreness where the needles are inserted, usually dissipates within a
Does acupuncture affect my menstrual cycle?
Yes! From my experience, acupuncture can be used to help restore a regular period in woman who have irregular periods (metrorrhagia or oligomenorrhea) or when the period is absent (amenorrhea).
Can I get acupuncture during pregnancy?
When done properly by a trained professional, acupuncture during pregnancy is considered safe and has few risks. One review reported that acupuncture wasn't likely to be associated with miscarriage or other major complications. Instead, most risks associated with acupuncture seem to be minor.
Can children get acupuncture treatments?
Acupuncture is a therapy for children over the age of eight.
For kids under the age of eight we can do Shonishin (pediatric Japanese meridian massage with small, specialized tools), Acupressure and/or Tuina Massage (Chinese Massage) and herbal medicine remedies.
What other treatment forms are there besides acupuncture?
Cupping therapy
Massage
Ear seeds
Auricular therapy
Aromatherapy
Chromotherapy
Polarity Therapy
Acupressure
E-stim
Foot Baths
Detox therapy
Breathing Exercises
Tai Qi/Qi Gong
What is community acupuncture?
Community acupuncture is the practice of treating patients together in a large room. This differs from traditional acupuncture where treatment is administered in a private room setting.
Many clinics across the country, including ours, have chosen to adopt the community acupuncture model approach because it makes getting treatment more accessible and affordable.
Plus, treating patients in a community setting has many benefits––it’s easy for friends and family members to come in for treatment together; many patients find it comforting; and a collective energetic field becomes established which makes individual treatments more powerful.
In addition to these benefits, one of the things we love about the community acupuncture model is that it mirrors how traditional acupuncture is practiced in many Asian countries. The community model hearkens back to how acupuncture was originally meant to be practiced. Plus, it demystifies the process by bringing it out into the open.
How many treatments does it take to see results?
The benefits of acupuncture are sometimes difficult to measure, but many people find it helpful as a means to control a variety of painful conditions.
Several studies, however, indicate that some types of simulated acupuncture appear to work just as well as real acupuncture. There's also evidence that acupuncture works best in people who expect it to work.
Acupuncture has few side effects, so it may be worth a try if you're having trouble controlling pain with more-conventional methods.
Does acupuncture last forever?
In summary, the amount of time the effect of acupuncture last largely depends on the individual’s age and symptoms, and treatments that they are receiving. This means that the effects can last for either a few days or a couple of weeks.
Do I have to get acupuncture forever?
The number of treatments that you get depends on your condition, its severity and how your body responds. Most patients have an appointment once a week. Others get treatment more or less often, depending on how long the effects last. Your acupuncturist will recommend a schedule that is right for you.
What if I’m sick, do I need to cancel my appointment?
If you are sick, do not cancel your acupuncture treatment. Many people do not know that the common cold, stomach problems, and viruses may be helped by acupuncture.
Does insurance cover acupuncture?
YES! Many insurance companies are now covering Acupuncture, Cupping Therapy, heat treatments, and Massage.
Call the number on the back of your insurance card and ask for the details of your plan coverage.
Questions to ask them:
*Do you have coverage for acupuncture or massage?
*Do you need a Dr. Referral?
*Do you have a co-pay?
*How many visits are covered?
*Do you need a letter of medical necessity to continue future visits?
In an automobile accident?
Most auto insurance policies cover medical expenses incurred as a result of an automobile related injuries. This is like a health insurance policy specifically related to auto injury regardless of whether the injured is at fault or not.
Acupuncture is great for most injuries sustained from accidents. After injuries are sustained in an accident, it is best to receive treatment as soon as possible. It will help treat the pain faster and can help prevent injuries from setting in and becoming chronic.
During an accident, your muscles may tighten to protect your body from further injury, causing pain and discomfort. Soft tissue injuries respond very well to acupuncture. We can use other modalities such as cupping, gua sha, and moxibustion in conjunction with acupuncture to help heal your injuries. We can also use electro acupuncture to help improve or restore proper blood circulation to maximize your healing potential.
There are a few simple steps that could help you protect your legal rights.
*First, obtain the name, address, and telephone number of the other driver and verify the information by that driver's license.
*Obtain the name of his/her insurance company.
*Obtain the name, address, and telephone number of any witnesses to the accident.
*If there has been possible damage as a result of the accident, a police officer should be called to the scene to prepare an accident report.
