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.