What to Expect on a First Visit
Your first visit usually takes about 1½ hour. We will ask you a variety of questions – many you will expect and some will seem unusual or different from what you may have experienced when visiting other health care practitioners. As part of the examination we will check your pulse on your wrist, look at your tongue, and/or may press on certain acupuncture points. Typically, we perform an acupuncture treatment during the first visit unless there are specific reasons or you wish not to. Some patients only get herbs and/or come in for a nutritional consultation.
Most of our patients enjoy treatments and find them very relaxing. All needles are sterile and used only one time. You may feel a small prick lasting a couple of seconds when the needle is inserted. At about 90% of the time nothing is felt at all. Once the needle is in place you may not feel anything or it might feel slightly heavy or achy but not typically feel painful.
Your treatment may include other modalities, such as:
Cups – a vacuum is created inside a glass cup and then it is placed on different parts of the body. It may stay in one place or be moved over an area such as your back.
Electro-acupuncture – on rare occasions a battery powered electrical device using low level electricity can be added to the needles usually for treatment of chronic pain.
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Homework - We often give homework to patients. This might mean massaging certain points, using specific foods for their therapeutic value, or other complaint specific things. This enhances treatments and helps you participate in your healing process.
Acupuncture Styles - We want you to understand your treatment and will do our best to explain the process. If this is your first visit to a practitioner of Oriental Medicine, we assume you will have many questions to ask. There are many variations of Oriental medicine – Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), Five-Element, Japanese, Vietnamese, and Korean styles, so even if it’s not your first time receiving acupuncture there may be some differences. We use the very traditional Chinese Acupuncture method. Also we need to ajdust the stimulation and acupoint selection according to your body condition and the syndrome differention according to Chinese medicinal theory.
Please wear loose fitting clothes that can be easily rolled up above your elbows and knees. Also, you will need to expose your abdomen from your rib cage to the top of your hips, so avoid one piece suits or dresses.
For all acupuncture visits, be sure you have eaten at least a light meal within a few hours prior to arriving. Avoid overeating immediately before treatment.
Please bring any information about your case you may have from your doctors, including lab tests, blood work, reports of x-rays or MRI’s, etc.
