Acupuncture Treatments: what to expect
I use a layered combination of acupuncture and acupressure, shamanistic medicine, somatics, and trauma-informed care to help you self-regulate, center, and ease physical/emotional pain and suffering. I work in collaboration with you as my teammate. I am open to suggestions and you may help me direct your treatment in a way that allows you to feel safe and well-cared for. Feel free to ask questions during your treatment if you are curious about anything! Acupuncture is ultimately experiential self-learning at its best!
One-on-one interview: At your scheduled appointment time I will do an intake interview with you. The information you share is confidential. The first part of the interview includes general background about your condition. The next part involves the Chinese Medicine "10 Questions" - a review of systems head to toe. The first interview generally takes about 15-30 minutes.
Tongue, Pulse, and Abdomen: Tongue color, shape, size, coating, etc... and left/right pulses are important East Asian medicine diagnostics. I may also include hara diagnosis, light subcostal and abdominal palpation. I gain a lot of information about how to direct the course of your treatment based on this information, and how these inform information from the interview. I also take blood pressure, pulse rate, blood oxygen, and temperature readings. All of this takes about 15 min, in general, and pulse-reading is interwoven throughout the entire treatment.
Treatment: Each treatment will vary, depending on your body's needs. It may begin or end with shiatsu bodywork or traditional massage, or you may get a full hour shiatsu treatment! (Full hour traditional massage sessions are not available.) Your treatment will involve an acupuncture treatment individually tailored to your needs, and may also include cupping, moxa, gua sha, e-stim, or use of an infrared heated stone mat and TDP heat lamp. Treatments last about one hour, with needle retention times varying from quick insertion and removal or retention from 15-30 minutes. Sometimes non-insertive tools such as a teishin or enteishin are used on the surface of the skin. Whatever your treatment, I consider you my partner in the experience, and encourage you to ask questions and share information as it feels comfortable to do so.
Ongoing treatment: Although you are likely to feel immediate relief after your first treatment, it often takes several treatments for a condition to resolve or begin to resolve. However, sometimes it just takes one. The number of treatments needed varies for each person and condition, but generally 3-6 treatments once per week can be expected.
For acute conditions, acupuncture 1-3x/week is recommended to reduce inflammation and promote healing. For mild chronic conditions, or conditions related to menstruation, a treatment range of 1-3 months can be expected. For chronic or deeply recalcitrant conditions, it may take months or years to truly dig in. Think about how long a condition took to develop. If it's been ten years, then it may take another 5-10 to observe transformation and begin to set you free.
acupuncture/herbal medicine/shiatsu
