What Happens
When You Have Acupuncture?
Some people are frightened by the thought of acupuncture and
may feel that it takes a great deal of courage to inflict "the
needles" on themselves. The first, and probably the most
important fact to understand about acupuncture is that it is
not a frightening experience. It does involve the insertion of
fine needles through the skin and most acupuncturists use
between six and eight acupuncture needles at each treatment
session. The needles used are smaller than injection needles
that you are probably use to,
in fact an acupuncture needle fits into the central hole of a
normal injection needle. Acupuncture needles have a doweled
end, not a cutting end like most hypodermic needles and
therefore are far less likely to cause tissue damage or
bruising when inserted.
--- Back to questions ---
Does inserting the
needle hurt?
The insertion of an acupuncture needle is not a painful
experience at all. Patients sometimes sit with eyes closed and
teeth clenched asking "When are you going to put the needles in?"
and are often surprised to learn that the needles are in place
before they have finished asking the question. It would be
wrong to suppose that the insertion of an acupuncture needle
is devoid of any sensation, but those who experience
acupuncture do not usually describe it as a painful sensation.
--- Back to questions ---
What does it feel like after the needle is inserted?
Chinese philosophy says that if acupuncture is to achieve its
maximum effect it is necessary for the acupuncturist to obtain
a "needling sensation" over each acupuncture point that is
used. This involves the needle being moved slightly while it
is in the skin and the sensation experienced by the patient
will vary. Needling sensation is not painful but it is a dull,
bursting or numbing sensation around the site of the inserted
needle. The sensation may also travel up or down the channel
being treated. For example, the stimulation of an acupuncture point on the
right knee may precipitate the experience of a strange burning
or numb sensation in the right ankle. The needling sensation is
probably best defined by saying "When needling sensation is
experienced the needle no longer feels like a needle!"
--- Back to questions ---
Do you need to believe in Acupuncture for it to work?
Another common misconception is that patients must "believe"
in acupuncture to enable it to work. This is similar to the
idea that acupuncture is a complex form of suggestibility, but
this is quite wrong. Like any other type of medicine
acupuncture works on those who believe in it and those who do
not. Acupuncture is NOT a placebo. The mechanism of acupuncture is not clearly understood
but it is quite clear that reproducible biological changes
occur when an acupuncture needle penetrates the skin.
--- Back to questions ---
Am I guaranteed to
get better?
No medical treatment works all the time and acupuncture is no
exception to this rule. There are many problems in assessing
acupuncture as a form of treatment for any disease. Here in
Canada, the condition that is most commonly treated
by acupuncture is pain and, in general, acupuncture has a
significant effect in about seventy per cent of painful
diseases.
First of all the doctor must have a
clear idea of the natural history of the disease. If the
disease is going to get better anyway, it is a little
presumptuous to claim that the cure is due to acupuncture,
just because the patient has received acupuncture. Furthermore
vast number of statistics must be collected and analyzed
before any treatment can be adequately assessed, and in the
field of acupuncture the pure research has not yet been
satisfactorily completed. This makes the question "What chance
of improvement do I have?" a very difficult one to answer
exactly for specific condition.
--- Back to questions ---
How will I
respond to my treatment?
It is very difficult to be dogmatic about how a patient will
respond to acupuncture. Occasionally, one treatment is all
that is required, while other people may need a number of
treatments to gain the same result for the same disease. In
general most people, and their problems, do not respond
magically to one treatment, and between four and eight
treatment sessions may be required in order to obtain the best
results from acupuncture.
Acupuncture usually works in stages. The first two or three
treatments represent a process of "understanding the needs of
the patient" and are therefore a sort of experiment designed
to assess the specific requirements for that person in that
particular condition. Some people respond to classical Chinese
body acupuncture, while others respond better to ear
acupuncture. This partially reflects the skill of the
acupuncturist in the use specific techniques, but it also
represents the fact that the body responds in a slightly
different way to slightly different stimuli. Some people seem
to respond to a particular acupuncture technique for one
condition, while requiring a completely different technique
for another complaint. A patient may even respond to a
particular approach for a specific condition and then stop
improving half way through treatment, thus necessitating an
alternative approach to that condition.
If a patient experiences some symptomatic improvement at the
first consultation, then they often gain considerable relief
from a course of acupuncture. Equally, many people who do not
obtain symptomatic improvement at the first consultation may
still also gain a great deal from acupuncture. It is a good
prognostic sign if there is some instant improvement, although
the improvement gained at the first consultation rarely lasts
longer than a few hours, and in fact may last only a few minutes. Each
subsequent treatment should then give a better and more
prolonged result and the symptoms should gradually disappear
as the treatment becomes effective.
--- Back to questions ---
How does my
body react to Acupuncture?
Sometimes a patient may experience a temporary worsening of
symptoms due to acupuncture. This is a response to treatment
and is actually a good sign. Such "reactions" to treatment
only last for a short time, perhaps a day or two, and are
usually followed by improvement. A reaction usually means that
the acupuncture needles have been over stimulated as some
patients are very sensitive to acupuncture and may respond to
normal stimulation by overreacting.
If a reaction occurs, the patient should
be stimulated less at the next treatment session, this means
giving a shorter and less aggressive treatment. Sometimes the
improvement may be very delayed and the condition may not
improve until the treatment has ceased. Occasionally, patients
who have abandon treatment, with no improvement after three
weeks, will suddenly find improvement some weeks after the
acupuncture has ceased.
--- Back to questions ---
Does Acupuncture cure me or just relieve my symptoms?
Acupuncture can be a cure, or it can act as a palliative
treatment. This depends on the condition that is being
treated. If a chronically painful arthritic knee is treated
with acupuncture then, on average, the improvement will last
about six months and the knee will then require re-treatment.
Some acupuncturists treat their patients every three months or
so to avoid any deterioration in their condition. The
traditional Chinese approach is to attempt to maintain the
patient in a state of health and a regular three-monthly
treatment pattern is therefore justified. However, many
acupuncturists just treat patients when the symptoms recur. If
the condition is self-limiting, such as the pain from an
attack of shingles, then no further treatment is required
after the pain is relieved.
--- Back to questions ---
What does Whole
Body Therapy mean?
In Canada, the vast majority of people look upon
acupuncture as an alternative treatment for pain. Therefore
pain is the most frequently presented complaint at an
acupuncture clinic. If the patient is approached from the
traditional Chinese viewpoint then the body is treated as an
integrated system. People in pain frequently have other
complaints, such as heartburn or depression, and if the body
is treated as a complete system then these complaints will
also be treated and often be resolve during the course of
acupuncture. The patient may be quite surprised to find that
some other problem has suddenly improved, as it was not
realized it was amenable to acupuncture treatment and
therefore not mentioned to their acupuncturist.
--- Back to questions ---
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