INSTANT PAIN RELIEF WITH ACUPUNCTURE? YOU BET! 

One of my teachers had a saying: “When you put a stick in the ground, you should see a shadow”. Um, OK. What does that have to do with acupuncture. Well, the “point” is that when you use an acupuncture needle on a patient, you should get immediate results, if not, you should rethink your diagnosis. This is especially true when treating pain syndromes. Whether it is an acute sprain, strain, post-surgical healing or a chronic condition, I expect to see immediate results with treatment. I ask my patients what position or movement causes the pain or makes it worse and ask them to perform that movement or posture, rating their pain on a scale of one to ten. Then I insert needles and ask them to do it again. It is the coolest thing in the world when someone’s face first looks a little confused and then lights up and they say, “No way” or “I don’t believe it”. That second one is funny. You came to me for pain relief and you don’t believe that it has been reduced or eliminated! It is astounding though, and it never ceases to amaze me no matter how many times I see it.

Now one treatment is not going to “fix” you, even if it is an acute injury (they respond most quickly to treatment). Typically, the pain will return after a few hours or after a day or so and that is why it is important to support the initial treatment with follow up visits. With chronic pain syndromes, often the next phase of treatment “Corrective Care” is the most important. There was a reason that the problem became chronic in the first place. A reason that the body did not do what it was supposed to do and heal itself. It is in the Corrective Care phase of treatment that these underlying issues are addressed so that the problem does not come back.