Acupuncture Treatment
The Stages of Acupuncture Treatment
An acupuncture treatment session is generally structured into 3 stages. The first stage allows you and your practitioner time to talk about where you are with your health and what you would like support with. The time spent during the initial appointment therefore, is much longer as much more detailed information is gathered. In addition, certain diagnostic information is gathered at this stage. See the Chinese Medicine Diagnosis section for more detailed information. People often say how refreshing it is to have this time provided specifically for them to discuss their particular problems.
The second stage is where your practitioner will look at your tongue and feel your pulses. Patients often find having their pulses felt very relaxing. Also, and as a result of information gathered in the first stage, specific meridians may be palpated. This is to gather as much relevant information as required to make a Chinese medicine diagnosis.
The third stage involves choosing a number of acupuncture points to use for that particular session. Consequently, this is where the depth and diversity of acupuncture treatment possibilities is expressed through the various point combinations.
Choosing the Acupuncture Points
Points may be chosen based on the time of day, season and climate. They are also chosen based on gender, energetic ‘patterning’ based on birth-date and presentation on the day of treatment. Especially relevant of course, is that points are chosen based on the actual complaint itself!
The number of points chosen, the type of needle, technique and duration the needles are left in for varies greatly. This is based on the specific treatment required for you at that particular time – making acupuncture an incredibly tailored treatment.
Sometimes the needles are left in the body for less than a second or two or between 24-28 minutes. Sometimes this can be longer depending upon the required effect. It is common for people to comment on how deeply relaxed they feel whilst the needles are in, as the Qi is smoothed and regulated.
Lee uses approximately 18 different types of needle for different applications. All of the needles are sterile, single-use, disposable needles with some as fine as a human hair (0.12mm wide). This makes acupuncture suitable even for those with great sensitivity.
Because Lee uses mostly classical acupuncture techniques, aside from certain protocols, the number of points used is almost always very few and can typically be one to four.
