- Your initial consultation and treatment may take 60 to 70 minutes.
- Subsequent sessions take 40 to 60 minutes.
- The number and frequency of treatments will depend on the condition being treated and its severity.
- While some people may have immediate result after only one treatment, usually people feel their problems begin to improve within 3 to 5 treatments. We will discuss your treatment plan with you and the plan will be constantly assessed, to check things are improving or moving in the right direction.
In the initial consultation
- we need to gather lots of information, including your presenting main complain and its history, associated symptoms, your general state of health, your medical history, lifestyle and diet, etc.
- We will need to do some physical examinations depending on your presenting problem.
- Sometimes we also need to inspect the shape, coating and colour of your tongue, the strength, rhythm and quality of the pulse in your wrist.
Some information we gather may seem not so relevant to your current problem, but we view the body as a whole, and our goal is to go beyond symptom management and to address the root of the problem.
During the procedure
Acupuncture points are situated all over the body. Sometimes the selected points are far away from the area of your problem. We will tell you the general site of the planned treatment and whether you need to remove any clothing, a gown will be provided if necessary. You lie on a padded table for the treatment, disposable sheet are provided on the table. The procedure includes:
- Needle insertion. Acupuncture needles are inserted to various depths at strategic points on your body. The needles are very thin, so insertion usually causes little discomfort. People often don’t feel them inserted at all. Between 5 and 20 needles are used in a typical treatment. You may feel a mild aching sensation when a needle reaches the correct depth.
- Needle manipulation. We may gently move or twirl the needles after placement or apply heat or mild electrical pulses to the needles. You may feel some odd sensations which we call “needling sensation”, it has been described by our patients as “mild ache”, “heaviness”, “dull ache”,”numbness”,”feather touching”, “waving”, “ants crawling”, “tickling “, “small electric shock”, etc.
- Needle removal. In most cases, the needles remain in place for 20 minutes while you lie still and relax. There is usually no discomfort when the needles are removed.
After the procedure
- Some people feel relaxed while others feel energised after an acupuncture treatment.
- Some people still feel the residual “needling sensation” in some of the points for a few minutes up to a few hours, which is actually a good sign showing that the enhanced brain-body connection is still there after the treatment.
- Some people responds to acupuncture better and faster than others.
- Acupuncture works cumulatively, each treatment builds on the next so you do have to give it time to work.
M.E. Holistic Care 