What happens during my first Acupuncture treatment?

During your first Acupuncture treatment at Torbay Acupuncture Clinic you will be with me for one hour. I spend time taking a diagnostic history and this will involve making observations such as the appearance of your tongue and the quality of your pulses and asking lots of questions.

Pulse taking in Chinese Medicine

“Illness may be identical, but the persons
suffering from them are different”

 (Hsu Ta-Ch’un)

After the Diagnosis I perform a small treatment. Often you will then come back in a week for a further acupuncture session but, this is flexible because with some illness it is best to treat it twice a week to start with. With problems like severe Sciatica, you need to get the pain quickly under control then I will see you once per week, once every two weeks, then once a month.

What happens after the first Acupuncture treatment?

After their first Acupuncture treatment some patients come once per month for a visit anyway to keep healthy. If you have had a problem for a long time it is unlikely to get better after one session. You need to  commit to a course of treatment. It is a partnership between you and your Acupuncturist to get you better.

 With most illnesses if you only intend to come once and ‘see how it goes’ you are wasting your money. Every Patient responds differently to the treatment so it is very difficult to predict how many visits will be needed. This is not open ended I realize the financial implications of long term therapy and will discuss these issues if it goes on for a time. If you are not responding after the fifth treatment then we will review as to whether it is worth carrying on, most people do respond so don’t worry! Remember I go for Acupuncture myself!