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A First Visit to an Acupuncture Clinic
You might be
thinking about making an appointment at an acupuncture clinic. Many
people consider this for various symptoms; some common ones being
persistent pain, stress-related symptoms, or other problems such as
weight loss. In China, many people use their acupuncture visits as
a periodic tune up in order to stay healthy. Chinese acupuncturists
sometimes get paid as long as their client is healthy, rather than
when their clients have symptoms. So, let us take a tour of a
modern American acupuncture clinic to see what it is like.
A typical clinic looks like any professional office, and you will
be shown into a room where you are comfortably seated in a chair.
The acupuncture practitioner comes in and begins the diagnosis.
There are two major parts to the diagnosis, physical observation
and a discussion of your symptoms and environment. A basic physical
observation will include taking your pulse and observing your
tongue. Unlike a traditional doctor's office, your pulse is taken
on both wrists, and at several points on each wrist. Your pulse is
taken both near the surface of your wrist and also more deeply
below the surface. These observations will be written down and used
together with the discussion with the
practitioner.
You should think about a number of things to discuss at your first
acupuncture visit. If you are coming in for a particular symptom or
set of symptoms, this should be a major part of the discussion.
Think about several different aspects of your symptoms. Let's say
that you have persistent pain in your ankle, to use one example.
The pain may not be constant during the entire day; it may ebb and
wane depending on the hours of the day. The pain may increase or
decrease due to certain activities, and you should observe these as
much as possible. You might think that walking would certainly
increase the pain, but sometimes walking is not as much of a
problem as persistent standing, for example, as a cashier in a
grocery store. Also, the pain might change depending on the times
of the month, and that should also be mentioned to the acupuncture
practitioner. Cause and effect, if any, is also important to
report. Some things to consider if stress is a component, for
possibly the pain started or increased when you got a new
supervisor at work. Notice that a diagnosis for an acupuncture
visit includes physical, emotional, social, and mental components
to the diagnosis. So come to the acupuncture office armed with as
much information as you can gather about the reason you are
coming.
Once you and the acupuncture practitioner get through the initial
diagnosis, some time is taken to construct a plan of treatments.
Depending on the particular symptom that you have, and the other
personal information that was taken in the initial diagnosis, your
first treatment might be this same day, or you may be asked to
return on a different day to start your treatments. The time of day
and the particular days for acupuncture treatments are carefully
selected in order to achieve the best result possible.
If you do have an initial treatment, it will be painless, and
generally takes less than an hour, sometimes much less than that.
The acupuncture practitioner will insert very slim needles at
specific locations, which will remain for the number of minutes
needed for your particular symptoms. When the needles are still you
are not even aware of them. Inserting and removing needles is also
pain free, rarely there may be a slight twinge, but not more than
that. During your treatment you may feel more relaxed, a buzz of
energy, slightly warmer at the needle insertion points, or exactly
the same as when you came in. However, the needles are doing their
work to regulate and rebalance the circulation in your body. So
enjoy your first visit, and know that each visit brings you closer
to your optimal health.
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