Excellent question, and one that keeps a lot of people away from acupuncture. The short answer is no, generally not.
The longer answer is: It can vary.
Most needles will go in and you’ll feel nothing at all.
Some you’ll feel a little ‘bite’ as it pierces the skin, then nothing.
Others will have a stronger sensation; an achy feeling, a tingling under the skin, or a pulsing feeling. Not what we normally call painful, but definitely a sensation.
Then there are rare cases where a painful procedure is indicated, and will have the best effect. But I would never. Ever. Go ahead with something like this without full knowledge, and full understanding consent by you. You get to choose, always.
Short answer is we don’t really know yet. We know a fair bit about what’s going on, but the big picture is still not quite there. Like having half the pieces of a puzzle.
What we do know is that acupuncture seems to treat the nervous system. It appears to have this ability to affect our fight-or-flight reflex and settle that down to a degree.
What does that mean? Well it means our body can relax a bit, and get about the business of fixing what’s not going right. Acupuncture needles don’t actually fix anything. But they are sort of like signposts, telling our bodies what to pay attention to.
There does seem to be a bit more to it; acupuncture has an anti-inflammatory effect, and seems to affect bloodflow in the local area, and triggers the release of certain hormones and neurotransmitters.
But that big picture is still blurry, missing a few key pieces. Lots of research is currently underway though, and the future is bright.
Most importantly, acupuncture appears to work.
There is a lot of contemporary research into the efficacy of acupuncture, this website is a good place to start if you’re interested in that side of things.
But for most people, double-blinded studies are as alien as microbiology or quantum physics. Most people trust what they feel, and whether they find something helpful.
So I encourage you to give it a shot. If you’ve got a niggling problem that just won’t seem to go away, have a word about it with your local acupuncturist. See if they think they can help, and if they can let them have a try. See if they can’t chase it away, or turn the volume down at least, in a few sessions.
Typically a session is 1 hour long. A breakdown looks a bit like this:
- Usually we talk a short while, checking in on progress or change and making sure we’re aligned for treatment.
- Then I check in on diagnosis. For us this is looking at the tongue, feeling the pulse, and getting hands-on with the body – the affected area, and the arms and legs.
- Then it’s treatment. Needles are inserted, usually up to about 10 depending on the issue.
- After making sure you’re comfortable, I’ll turn on some relaxing music and step out of the room. You need to lie with needles in for 30 minutes, or longer depending on what we’re treating.
- Needles come out, we check in on your body’s response.
- If applicable I like to do manual techniques (cupping, gua sha, or Chinese massage) at the end of a treatment.
This depends very much on what you’re coming in for. But let’s say you have a problem (pain, joint issue, lingering injury, digestive upset), and we want to get to a solution.
What I look for is two things:
1. Do you respond positively to treatment?
It may take up to 3 sessions to get the ball rolling, but we need to see some positive effect either right away or in the day following treatment. This means you’re responding positively to treatment and we’re on the right track.
2. Some significant shift in the first 3-6 treatments
What a ‘significant shift’ looks like varies a lot. It really depends on you, your condition, and your situation. It may be pain goes from an 8/10 to a 5/10. It could be that you get to sleep before midnight now, without tossing and turning for hours. It could be that the pain is completely gone, or your diarrhoea has completely stopped. It can be huge, or it can be a small thing – but the most important part is that you feel different. More in control. More able to live your life, without what brought you in controlling what you can and can’t do. That means we’ve got through Phase 1 of treatment successfully.
After this step, treatment duration can vary a lot. A good general rule of thumb is that if you’ve had something longer, it takes longer to see out the door. It’s not always true, but it’s a good guide.
Some conditions will require ongoing touch-up treatments. Autoimmune conditions, or severe damage to core structures like the spine or neck. These are things you have to live with. Our goal in treatment is to help you do just that, to live with your condition – not be controlled by it.
Other conditions can be waved goodbye to. Pain can often be completely overcome, lingering injuries or joint instability can completely recover. I have seen many people completely overcome their conditions. At this stage, I want to say goodbye and good luck – hope to never see you again! But if something comes up, or something comes back; I’m always here to help you get back on your feet again.
When performed by a qualified professional acupuncture is very safe. I hold a four year degree in Acupuncture from Endeavour College, and safety was paramount in our training.
Needles are strictly single-use, sterile, high quality stainless steel.
There are some risks; commonly local bruising or bleeding, rarely nerve damage, and extremely rarely organ puncture. To mitigate these risks I choose very fine needles, insert shallowly and slowly, and do not needle over major organs.
If you are wearing loose-fitting, comfortable clothing then definitely not.
Many commonly used points are located on the lower legs, and around the knees. So if you have tight jeans on, I may ask you to take those off so that we can use those points. To achieve this, I will give you a towel and leave the room – asking that you lie on the table and cover yourself with the towel before I re-enter.
Your privacy and comfort are our utmost concern, and will always be respected during treatment.
If you are ever uncomfortable with needling of any particular area, we will forgo that are completely and choose another option. There are always alternatives.
