The Treatment Process
Many people would prefer the comfort of walking into a situation where they know what is going to happen and what to expect. Here is what happens when you seek treatment from my acupuncture practice.
Initial Contact
When you decide that you want to come for treatment, we schedule an appointment, and I will send you medical and contact forms to complete. That way I can look over information that would be helpful and familiarize myself with your health concerns and goals prior to our first meeting.
First Appointment
During our first appointment, we will be spending approximately 1½–2 hours together. We will be talking for the first part about your medical, social, and physical history, discussing your concerns and goals. Next, we will do a physical exam, which may look a little different than the western medical doctors’ exams that you’ve had in the past. Some of it will be familiar, and some will be new. After I look at the western diagnostic information that you may bring me, such as blood work or scans, in Chinese medicine, I will use less familiar diagnostic tools. For example, we look at and can gather information from observing the tongue, and taking pulses on both wrists in several different positions. After we have gathered information from the discussion and the physical exam, I will do the first acupuncture treatment, specifically an acupuncture needling treatment. Then we create an individualized treatment plan based on our findings, your goals, and what you would like to commit to. This first appointment is $165.
Subsequent Treatments
The rest of your treatments will last between 45 minutes to 1 hour. In those treatments, we have a very short discussion time to check in and see what effects the previous treatment had on you. We will again look at the pulses, etc. and then have a needling appointment. There are many different modalities that we may use, from needling, moxa, and cupping, to Gua Sha. You can read about those HERE. Each treatment is $90.
Goals
My goal is to get to the root of what is causing the disharmony in your body and correct or adjust it, so that the concern clears up and stays away. There are conditions that respond very well to treatment and tend to be short-lived and gone. Conversely, there are conditions that can not be fully corrected or adjusted. If that is the case, I will let you know. There are also conditions which acupuncture can be very helpful in managing, however, may not clear completely. Again, it is up to you if you’d like to add this modality to the integrative management of your condition, and I will let you know if that is the situation as well. Additionally, I will work with the other members of your health care team to ensure continuity of care.
Ultimately, my personal purpose in life with this medicine is to relieve suffering and improve quality of life. If I can help you achieve that, I will.