Avoid coffee, large meals, alcohol, cigarettes, vaping and drugs. Do not arrive hungry. This will make it more difficult for your practitioner to accurately diagnose your condition.
Chinese Medicine is a wholistic treatment and your practitioner will take an extensive case history, covering every aspect of your health, diet and lifestyle before making a diagnosis. Prior to your appointment you will be sent a questionnaire asking seemingly unrelated questions about such things as your response to changes in the weather, your menstrual cycle even if the condition you are attending for is not related to your cycle or whether you sleep with your feet out from under the blankets! Your answers will help identify patterns of disharmony which will allow your practitioner to make a more accurate diagnosis. Your practitioner will also take your pulse on both wrists and may ask to look at your tongue as both provide valuable information about your constitution and presenting condition.
After making a diagnosis your practitioner will decide the appropriate treatment. This may be acupuncture or Chinese herbs separately or in combination or may include the use of moxibustion, cupping or gua sha. Your practitioner may also make recommendations regarding your diet and lifestyle.
A typical treatment will involve the insertion of 8-16 acupuncture needles into points which may be selected either close to the affected area or as far away from it as possible. The needles must stay in place for approximately 20-25 minutes (perhaps longer for some conditions), during which time most people drift into a state of deep relaxation or may even go to sleep.
In comparison to needles which are used for an injection or to take blood, acupuncture needles are very fine – not much thicker than a human hair. Most new patients are amazed how painless acupuncture is – the thought is worse than the reality. When the correct stimulus of the needle has been obtained and the Qi has been activated, the patient may feel some heaviness, distension, tingling or electric sensation either around the needle or travelling up or down the affected energy pathway or meridian.
Avoid strenuous activities, alcohol, and recreational drugs in order to maintain the treatment effects. Energetic changes in the body will continue for some time after the needles have been removed.
Depending on the type of treatment you have received, you may feel very relaxed and calm or you may feel revitalized and more clear-headed. It is not unusual to feel like resting after a treatment and occasionally your symptoms may flare for a short time before settling. Generally, the effects of the treatment will be more obvious the following day.
Yes , especially if acupuncture reduces your medication needs. Most medical doctors are supportive of acupuncture treatment, and it is better for you if all your healthcare practitioners can work together.
Yes, as medications can affect pulse diagnosis and your symptoms.
Yes, do not stop medications without consulting your GP.
Yes. ACC covers specific injury treatments. You will need to see your GP to register the injury first.
Acupuncture is extremely safe when practiced by a qualified practitioner that uses sterile, single-use needles.
Occasionally a small bruise may occur at the site of the needle insertion, but this is not usually painful and will clear in a few days.
Generally, a course of treatment is accepted as being 8-10 individual sessions. Your condition may resolve in fewer than this, but if it is a long-standing condition then it would not be unexpected to require considerably more. Initially you may be asked to attend for treatment two or three times a week, and then as symptoms improve, weekly treatment would be likely. Your first appointment may last an hour and a half, but subsequent visits may only take 30 or 45 minutes.
We will send you a comprehensive questionnaire prior to treatment
You should also advise the practitioner of any medications, surgeries, and conditions like pregnancy, bleeding disorders, diabetes, cancer, hepatitis, HIV/AIDs. Epilepsy, skin infections and heart conditions/pacemaker.
Our fees are based on the time needed for treatment.
Whilst ACC will cover part payment of treatment for injuries caused by accidents, most practitioners also charge a co-payment to cover the difference between the fee paid by ACC and their normal fee for treatment.
Acupuncture is just one aspect of Chinese Medicine. A typical treatment may also include the use of moxibustion (the burning of a herb close to acupuncture points or on the needles), gua sha (scraping of the skin to cause slight redness), tui na (a form of massage) or cupping (the application of vacuum cups to the skin, most commonly used on the back). Your practitioner may also give you Chinese herbs to take. These are traditionally prescribed as dry herbs which are to be boiled with water. In more recent years herbs are becoming more available as freeze-dried granules, pills or capsules which are very easy to take. We may suggest some supplements, dietary and lifestyle changes that will help you restore balance.