Frequently Asked Questions

 

What Will Happen During The First Treatment?
Your first appointment will generally last 1.5 hours. As a new patient, to check in for your appointment, you should complete the paperwork, which includes legal and medical intake forms.
Based on the information you provided in your medical intake forms, the acupuncturist will investigate your chief complaint and conduct a detailed interview about your medical history, including past medical history, family history, and current physical, emotional, and nutritional conditions. In addition, your tongue will be examined, and your pulse in both wrists will be felt by the acupuncturist’s fingers, so that the acupuncturist can determine the pattern of disease.
On the basis of all the information mentioned above, the acupuncturist will create an individualized treatment plan tailored to your age, gender, lifestyle, medical history, health status, and pattern of disease. In the treatment plan, the acupuncturist will decide which kind of Chinese medical treatment you need, such as acupuncture, bodywork, and Chinese herbal medicine. This special treatment plan will meet your exact needs.
After the consultation, the treatment to be provided will not only focus on your main health concern, but also aim to balance your whole body.
After each treatment, you will be invited to schedule your next appointment.


What Will Happen During Follow-Up Treatment?
Return visits usually last 1 hour.
An acupuncturist will conduct an investigation of your updated chief complaint, as well as your physical, emotional, and nutritional conditions. Like the first treatment, your tongue will be examined, and your pulse in both wrists will be felt by the acupuncturist’s fingers, so that the acupuncturist can determine your current pattern of disease. According to the information thus collected, the acupuncturist will make an updated treatment plan for you, and then treatment tailored for your needs will be provided.


How Many Treatments Will I Need?
The number of visits that you need depends on the overall condition of your health. During the first visit, the acupuncturist will develop a treatment plan that outlines how many treatments the patient will need and how often the treatments will be conducted. Typically, both acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine are a series of weekly, biweekly, or monthly treatments. However, some serious chronic diseases, such as stroke sequelae, will need long-term treatment to get a good response. Patients often start feeling better after several treatments, and usually have a clinical response within 10 treatments. Maintenance treatments are usually necessary.


What Are the Dos and Don’ts Before and After Treatment?
Please do not come to your appointment on an empty or too full stomach.
After receiving an acupuncture treatment, sometimes you may feel a little lightheaded. In that case, please sit for a while in the waiting area. You’ll be relaxed and clear-headed in a few minutes.
Herbal prescriptions are made for an individual person according to the Chinese medical diagnosis that the acupuncturist has conducted. Please do not give your herbal formulas to anyone else.
Traditional Chinese medicine focuses on balancing the function of the whole body and stimulating the body’s self-healing of the body. As a result, previously dormant conditions may be awakened by the first treatment so that symptoms may become worse, though it happens very rarely. This phenomenon is often a sign that complete healing may occur and will pass quickly. If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact your physician.

 

What Will Happen During Acupuncture Treatment?
You will be invited to a private treatment place and be required to take off your shoes and socks and lie down. Depending on the treatment area, you may be asked to remove other articles of clothing. Clean sheets or towels will be offered to you during your treatment for your comfort. During the acupuncture session, each acupuncture site will be cleaned with alcohol, and then very thin, pre-sterilized, individually packaged, disposable needles will be inserted. Usually, complementary to acupuncture, such other treatments as cupping and heat lamp will be provided to get better results. The needle retention time is typically 20 to 30 minutes, depending on the nature of the disease, its severity, and how long it has been present. During your treatment, the acupuncturist will check on you several times and be available for you to contact for any reason. Although many people find it very relaxing during the acupuncture treatment, if you feel any discomfort, please tell your acupuncturist right away so that adjustments can be made for you.

Is Acupuncture Safe?
There is general agreement that acupuncture is safe when administered by well-trained practitioners using sterile needles. Because acupuncture needles penetrate the skin, it is an invasive procedure with rare injuries. And in America, needles are required by law to be sterile, disposable, and used only once. Major adverse events are exceedingly rare and are usually associated with poorly trained unlicensed acupuncturists. Estimates of adverse effects due to acupuncture range from 671 to 1,137 per 10,000 treatments. The majority of adverse effects reported are minor, mainly slight hemorrhage (2.9%), hematoma (2.2%), and dizziness (1%).
The use of acupuncture has been tentatively endorsed by the United States National Institutes of Health, the National Health Service of the United Kingdom, the World Health Organization, and the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine.

Does Acupuncture Hurt?
In general, acupuncture is not painful. The needles are extremely thin, solid, sterilized, and disposable. Patients normally feel mild soreness, numbness, or tingling, which is caused by the movement of Qi (energy) stimulated by the insertion of the needles on acupoints, which is just the desired effect that acupuncture produces.