What To Expect
Your first appointment
Initial visits last ninety minutes. Your acupuncturist will take a detailed health history, perform a physical exam or orthopedic tests, and provide you with your unique treatment plan.
During your first exam, your acupuncturist will spend time getting to know you and your health concerns. You may be asked a wide range of questions about your symptoms, eating, exercise, sleep habits, emotional states and anything that may offer insight into your health. Your acupuncturist will also employ diagnostic tools that are unique to acupuncture and TCM such as tongue and pulse diagnosis.
The goal of this dynamic and integrated healthcare system is to activate the natural, self-healing abilities of your body and restore it back to normal functioning. This is usually done by stimulating specific acupuncture points.
The most common method used to stimulate acupuncture points is the insertion of fine, sterile acupuncture needles into the skin. Other techniques such as manual massage (Tui Na), Gua Sha, moxibustion, cupping, heat therapy via infrared sauna or TDP lamp, electrical stimulation, or topical herbal medicines and lineaments can further enhance the effects of an acupuncture treatment and may also be used.
Acupuncture is safe, painless, effective, and a natural approach to getting well. It is important to understand and follow your acupuncturist’s directions in order to get the most benefit from these treatments.