Needles are scary
Lots of people hate needles. Needles are the most common phobia among children, and as many as 1 of 4 adults share the fear. It makes sense, really. They hurt, you get them when you’re sick and already fragile. Often they’re shoved in with little warning. Not a lot to like.
Well the good news is acupuncturists aren’t all just mad about needles. Sure, ours are much thinner than the usual stock. They hurt a lot less, can even be painless. But they’re still needles, and for many that’s a deal-breaker. Well you needn’t worry, I would never needle anyone who wasn’t 100% on board with it.
If you’re interested in acupuncture but are worried about the needling, don’t fret. We can still help you without putting a single needle anywhere near you.
How does it work?
Lots of ways! In fact the non-needle tools far outweigh the needles in volume; moxibustion, cupping, gua sha, Chinese massage. You can read about each of these individually, and they all have their own strengths. But I want to talk specifically about getting an acupuncture treatment without needles.
Each of these other modalities are thoroughly excellent at what they do. But a lot of conditions call for acupuncture. If inserting needles are off the table, we do actually have an alternative.
Acupuncture without needles? Say again?
That’s right, acupuncture with no needles. In fact of the ancient 9 needles of acupuncture, only 3 were inserted into the body. So traditional acupuncture needles were more for the outside of the body than the inside. It’s two of these that I’m talking about. They are called teishin and enshin. They’re Japanese words, as they come from the Japanese tradition – this style of needles fell out of favour in China hundreds of years ago.
The teishin are needles that are used to treat acupuncture points on the surface of the skin. The treatment is extremely gentle, and highly appropriate for kids (it’s the only way I treat children in fact). It’s also excellent for people whose nervous system is already overloaded. Chronic neurological conditions such as lyme disease for example.
A teishin looks like a big, blunt needle about as long as a finger, but thinner than a pencil. An enshin is similar, but the end is round like a ball on a stick.
What does treatment look like then?
It’s quite similar to acupuncture, with a few key differences. We still do the normal full diagnosis. We still choose the appropriate acupuncture points for treatment. Then we treat them one by one, taking our time on each point, stimulating it gently with the teishin until it’s done (usually a few minutes is enough). Then we move along to the next one, and repeat.
If treating a whole channel is called for, the enshin is utilised. The channel is stroked lightly with the ball-like end. It’s sort of like a massage for the channel, to stimulate the functions that correlate with that channel system.