About
What is Acupuncture?
Acupuncture is a part of Traditional Chinese Medicine. A medicine that is over 2,500 years old. Acupuncture involves the insertion of extremely thin needles through your skin at strategic points on your body. Traditional Chinese medicine explains acupuncture as a technique for balancing the flow of energy or life force (Qi) to flow through the Channels in your body. By inserting needles into specific points along these channels, acupuncture can allow ones body to reach homeostasis
What happens during Acupuncture treatment?
First, your acupuncturist will ask about your health history. Then, he will examine your tongue’s shape, color, and coating, feel your pulse,check your abdomen and perform some additional physical examinations depending on your individual health needs. Using these assessment tools, the acupuncturist will be able to recommend a proper treatment plan to address your particular condition. To begin the acupuncture treatment, you lay comfortably on a treatment table while precise acupoints are stimulated on various areas of your body.
How does Acupuncture work?
Acupuncture improves the body’s functions and promotes the natural self-healing process by stimulating specific anatomic sites known as acupuncture points, or acupoints. The most common method used to stimulate acupoints is the insertion of fine Hair like, sterile needles into the skin. Pressure, heat, or electrical stimulation may further enhance the effects.
Traditional Chinese Medicine is based on an ancient philosophy that describes the universe, and the body, in terms of two opposing forces called yin and yang. When these forces are in balance, the body is healthy. Energy, called "qi" (pronounced "chee") flows along specific pathways, called channels, throughout the body. This constant flow of energy keeps the yin and yang forces balanced. However, if the flow of energy gets blocked, like water getting stuck behind a dam, the disruption can lead to pain, lack of function, or illness. Acupuncture therapy can release blocked qi in the body and stimulate function, evoking the body’s natural healing response through various physiological systems.
Modern Western Research has come to believe that the fascia is what the ancients called channels. Fascia is a sheet of connective tissue, primarily collagen, beneath the skin that attaches, stabilizes, encloses, and separates muscles and other internal organs. This fascia is everywhere in the body. Each organ is wrapped around fascia and then that fascia is compartmentalized around more fascia. This fascia runs from your head to your toes. So a needle in your foot has ability to effect your stomach or head. Research demonstrated acupuncture’s effects on the nervous system, endocrine and immune systems, cardiovascular system, and digestive system. By stimulating the body’s various systems, acupuncture can help to resolve pain, and improve sleep, digestive function, and sense of well-being.
How many sessions will I need?
The frequency and number of treatments differ from person to person. Some people experience dramatic relief in the first treatment. For complex or long-standing chronic conditions, one to two treatments per week for several months may be recommended. For acute problems, usually fewer visits are required. An individualized treatment plan that includes the expected number of treatments will be discussed during your initial visit.
Is Acupuncture safe?
In the hands of a well-trained practitioner, acupuncture is a safe and pleasant experience. The most common adverse side-effects are small bruises and light-headedness after treatment. Usually we ask the patient to always eat before a treatment to prevent this and drink plenty of water usually an hour or two before their session.