Initial appointment

Your initial appointment will last approximately 90 minutes, during which time an assessment is made of how your energy or “qi” is flowing. There are three ways we make this assessment – asking questions about your overall health, doing a physical examination, and by taking 12 pulses, 6 on each arm, which correspond to the 12 major pathways of energy flows through your body. Time permitting an initial treatment using needles will be performed allowing some immediate feedback on how your body responds to needling.

Please wear loose, comfortable clothing. Most acupuncture points are on areas of the body between the elbows and the hands and between the knees and the feet. However, we also frequently use points on the abdomen, back and the head.

Future appointments typically last one hour. Generally, we treat people once a week; however there are some conditions which require more frequent treatments two to three times a week. After reviewing your specific case, we will devise an initial treatment plan, detailing frequency of treatment and expected duration.

Each person and each illness is unique. In general, the longer you have had an illness, the longer it will take to bring your body back into balance.

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Click on the images to learn more about classical acupuncture and herbal medicine.