How Frequently Should You Be Getting

Acupuncture?

According to the scientific research, dosage matters when it comes to

acupuncture.

According to the analyses of 17,922 patients, an international group of

medical researchers reported in The Journal of Alternative and

Complementary Medicine that when it comes to utilizing acupuncture

for the treatment of pain conditions, dosage really matters. Based on

several different studies of various acupuncture techniques, including

moxibustion and e-stim, each technique was effective at alleviating pain. However, better relief was obtained when more needles were used and

when acupuncture sessions were more frequent.

One question that Del Mar acupuncture patients often ask is how often

they need to receive treatments. While it’s common for many patients to

come in for acupuncture once a week or less due to a busy work/life

schedule, patients seeking to avoid surgery and get lifelong relief from

chronic pain may need to get acupuncture more frequently for a few

months. If you find that once a week acupuncture is not alleviating your

pain for the entire week, you should definitely think about seeing your acupuncturist more frequently.

The next question that many patients ask when they hear this news is

whether they will have to do this for the rest of their lives. Acupuncture

promotes equilibrium and homeostasis in the body, and if you have been

neglecting your health for a very long time or if you have a severe health

condition, it will take longer to get your body back on track. You may

need six months of acupuncture and an entire year of herbal therapy.

When you begin to feel healthy and pain-free again, you won’t need to continue with treatment. Many patients choose to get acupuncture near

Encinitas once a month as a method of maintaining wellness and

preventing any flare-ups if they have a chronic condition.

Keep in mind that this meta-analysis focused on the treatment of pain

with acupuncture only. Conditions that are not chronic and conditions

that don’t involve a pain element may not require more needles or more

frequent treatment. If you are seeking acupuncture for wellness,

hormone balancing, acute nausea, a sinus infection, seasonal illness, etc., you may only need a couple of treatments and you’re well. Children tend

to suffer from acute illnesses only lasting a few days, so oftentimes a

child can have one acupuncture treatment and have immediate and

lasting relief.

One rule of thumb for how long you will need to receive

acupuncture treatments and/or herbal therapy is to think about

when your condition began. If you started having knee pain six

months ago, don’t expect one acupuncture treatment to “cure” it.

You may require six months of consistent treatment, but you

may be able to avoid knee surgery and all the complications that

go with that.