Your First Visit:
Your first visit is special in that this is when I get to know you and find out exactly what your concern is, your history and what you'd like to accomplish with Chinese Medicine. During this first meeting I will make an assessment and a Chinese Diagnosis, and will design a treatment plan for you specifically. Following this you will most likely receive your first treatment, which may include acupuncture, moxabustion, cupping, electrical stimulation acupuncture (Estim), Tui Na-based massage or Chinese Herbal remedies. First visits rarely take less than an hour, and depending on the history and complexity of your condition may take up to two hours. Follow-up visits routinely take between thirty minutes and sixty minutes. 

Acupuncture points are located all over the body, although the most commonly used points are on the arms between the elbows and the hands, on the legs between the knees and the feet, on the lower abdomen between the umbilicus and the lower belly and on the back and neck. Depending on the treatment you are receiving, and your degree of comfort, you may choose to wear or bring loose fitting clothing that can be adjusted up and down the limbs easily, short sleeved tops, short pants or some combination of these. If widely distributed body points are chosen, dressing down to one's undergarments is an option in which you will otherwise be kept covered and comfortable.

Feel free to download the patient forms from this website, so that you can arrive with your paperwork done. Fill out the questions to the best of your ability but please be concise. I will be asking you in person for further details. Please sign and date the Informed Consent and Arbitration Agreement forms, and bring with you a list of all medications and supplements you are currently taking, or have taken if they are relevant to your current condition. Please bring with you any lab results, and copies of MRI's, CT scans or X-rays with radiologists reports if you have them available. Be sure to have a light meal within two hours prior to your treatment. Acupuncture cannot be performed on intoxicated individuals.

Course of Treatment:
Although it occasionally happens, acupuncture treatment does not typically provide a cure in a single visit. In general, acute and recently occurring conditions require fewer treatments, and chronic conditions or those that are allowed to linger without treatment require longer courses. Conditions that are treated two or more times a week resolve more quickly than those that receive a single treatment a week, and treatments that adhere to a regular schedule are more effective than treatments which are inconsistent from week to week. The effects of acupuncture are cumulative with each treatment bringing the body and mind closer to a healthy and balanced state. Usually a seriously unbalanced state is the result of considerable unhealthy habits or exposure over considerable time, and therefore considerable treatment is required to bring this person back to the balanced and healthy disease-free state.

Some typical examples are given here. A person who has injured a muscle or joint will often resolve in two or three treatments if seen within a couple days of the injury. A chronic or untreated muscle or joint injury may require up to ten treatments. A person in the early stages of a cold may resolve in one treatment, whereas a person with a chronic or lingering cold may require three or more treatments. An acute severe headache may resolve in a single treatment, whereas chronic and migraine headaches require several treatments until under control and then maintenance treatments about every month. Chronic disease states with organ involvement most often require a course of regular treatments for two or more months. Treatment for couples experiencing infertility in general requires twice weekly visits for a duration of between two and six months to produce a pregnancy, and then if there is a history of miscarriage, continued treatment through at least the first trimester. The amount of time and number of visits required varies according to the individual, and the problem being treated. 

The Treatment:
Acupuncture needles are extremely fine, much finer than needles used for injections or to draw blood. If you have initial anxiety about acupuncture, please let me know - you won't have been the first. Licensed acupuncturists are trained and certified in sterile procedures, and all needles are one-time use only and then disposed of. As often as not the needles are hardly felt and it is a rare occasion when there is noticeable discomfort. During your session needles will be precisely placed at specific locations according to your diagnosis and treatment.

Once the needles are in place, the lighting in the room will be reduced, if you are cool you will be covered in blankets to keep you warm, soothing music will play softly and your general comfort will be checked before being left to enjoy approximately twenty to thirty minutes of relaxation time while the needles are working. It is important to achieve the maximal effect from the acupuncture that the patient is comfortable and relaxed during this time. Many people fall asleep.