How does acupuncture work?

While Western medicine works from the outside in, Eastern medicine works from the inside out.  Often people ask me during the treatment, “is there medicine on the needles?”  This is a great question.  No, the needles help your body make its own medicine.

There are over 365 acupuncture points on the body, and each of them have different jobs.  Stimulating the point with an acupuncture needle is like knocking on a door.  Each building (point) has something different to offer.  One point moves stagnant blood, another point works on hormone regulation, another point warms the body, another one strengthens energy.

The body has its own self-healing abilities.   Just as we often don’t use 100% of our brain or 100% of our muscle capacity, in the same way, our body is often not using the full extent of its healing powers.  The acupuncture stimulates these healing abilities, giving a surge to your reserves to allow your body to get the upper hand on the health problem.

How will I know if the acupuncture is working for me?

I describe acupuncture healing as a 3-step process:

Step 1 – This is from the first treatment until we see the first signs of improvement, even if it’s minor improvement. Usually this is in the first few treatments.

Step 2 – Building on the initial improvement.  I work to get as much progress as possible and you should continue to see more improvements.  This middle stage is usually reached within about 5-6 treatments for a more acute condition, or 7-9 treatments for a condition that is years in the making.  If there has been little progress after 5 treatments then we need to consider if I have done everything I can for you or not and decide what the next plan will be.

Step 3 – This involves stabilizing your progress so that your are not back-sliding.  Once stability has been achieved then you will not need to come in as often or at all for the original complaint unless something new comes up.

If there are other factors going on in your life that are hindering your healing, it may require a maintenance program, perhaps bi-weekly or once a month treatments.