FAQ
Most people who receive acupuncture don't feel the needles because they are as thin as your hair and designed not to cause pain. Most people feel a comfortable warmth around the needle and injured area as a result of increased blood flow and fall into a relaxed state from the release of endorphins from the treatment.
On the other hand, receiving an injection from your doctor typical hurts as a result of using a thick hollow needle that's used to inject liquid. the experiences between the two are vastly different.
Will acupuncture hurt like receiving a shot from the doctors office?
You will notice a vast improvement in your pain condition right away! With the styles of acupuncture that I utilize patients get better quickly. It may take a few sessions to get you completely pain free since we are re-setting the pain pathway to behave normally once again and increasing blood flow that aid in rebuilding deteriorated tissues such as bones, tendons, muscles, and joints around your body.
How long will it take for me to notice an improvement in my pain condition?
Yes of course I can! I prioritize what you want me to work on. I will ask you what the top three health issues that you want me to address, and we start a streamlined approach to getting your health back on track.
Can you treat more than one ailment at a time?
The main difference boils down to educational level required to practice set by our governing state boards.
An acupuncturist holds a master's degree in Acupuncture, coupled with an undergraduate degree in Health Science. We bring a wealth of clinical experience gained through supervised hands-on practice in acupuncture. Given our years of dedication to mastering this art, I highly recommend opting for an acupuncturist over a dry needler for your overall well-being.
A licensed physical therapist or chiropractor can take a course, typically 25 hours or less, even fully online, to practice dry needling. While they use acupuncture needles, they legally can't call it acupuncture. Due to the minimal hours required, I suggest choosing an acupuncturist for their higher educational level, knowledge, and experience.
What's the difference between getting needled by an acupuncturist verses dry needling performed by a physical therapist or chiropractor?
Acupuncture points stimulate the central nervous system. This in turn, releases chemicals into the muscles, spinal cord, and brain. These biochemical changes stimulate the body's natural healing abilities and promote physical and emotional well-being. Acupuncture also stimulates the release of endorphins, the body’s natural painkillers and balances out serotonin, a neurotransmitter that plays a role in mood and pain regulation.
Acupuncture enhances blood flow to the affected areas. Improved blood circulation helps deliver oxygen and nutrients to tissues, promoting healing and reducing inflammation. By increasing blood flow, acupuncture can aid in the resolution of chronic pain caused by injuries, arthritis, and even aid internal organs via nutrients delivered through the blood stream.
Research has shown that acupuncture can influence neural plasticity, which refers to the brain’s ability to reorganize and create new neural connections playing a pivotal role in mood disorders as well as chronic pain conditions. Acupuncture also modulates the immune response, balancing out hyperactive autoimmune diseases or improves a weakened immune system that leaves people prone to frequent colds and flu that are hard to recover from.
Acupuncture can regulate hormone levels within the body. The biggest impact I see with patients has to deal with cortisol levels being out of range causing various symptoms that include high blood pressure, weight gain, anxiety, insomnia, weakness, body aches all over, increase infections, and low sex drive. When people receive acupuncture cortisol levels go back into range as seen through lab tests, and symptoms disappear as a result of cortisol levels normalizing once again. The second most common hormonal imbalance that I restore is infertility and irregular menstrual cycles by influencing the hypothalamus-pituitary-ovarian axis. By normalize this axis, menstrual cycles normalize and fertility increases with patients.