Your first Acupuncture visit
Your first CranioSacral Therapy session
Download the Health History Questionnaire

What to expect at your first acupuncture visit

Your first visit will begin with an in-depth assessment of your condition and an initial treatment. The intake and treatment takes up to 1 1/2 hours. The typical treatments afterwards last approximately 45 minutes to one hour.

During assessment I may ask you about things that you might not think are connected to your chief complaint, for example, your emotions, sleeping patterns and eating habits. Chinese medicine considers the whole person, not just one symptom. When put together, the myriad of symptoms you are experiencing reveal patterns of disharmony.

Although the treatment will focus on your chief complaint, your whole being must be considered in order to develop the most appropriate course of treatment. Chinese medicine is unique in that it appreciates that illnesses may be identical, but the person suffering from them are individuals.

Pulse and tongue diagnosis.

As part of your intake, viewing your tongue and feeling your pulse can provide a Chinese medical practitioner with a great deal of information about your body to help guide the treatment.

Treatment

My needling technique is very gentle and my clients usually don't feel anything more than a small sensation, which disappears in moments. Although people experience different levels of sensitivity, I work very closely with you to make sure your experience is comfortable and positive. My approach is always to use the fewest needles possible to achieve therapeutic results. With acupuncture, more needles does not always mean better results, but accurate selection of specific acupuncture points and placements are really key to giving excellent treatment.

What to expect after treatment.

Your relief may be immediate, delayed for a few hours or even may develop after one to three days. The relief may last for a few hours the first visit and then last longer with each successive treatment. Relief may last from the first treatment until your next visit. It is important to recognize that we are all individuals and individual response to treatment varies.

The patient will be required to fill out a Medical History Form, then asked to lie down fully clothed to relax on a massage treatment table. Pillows are provided under the knees, neck and shoulders so the patient is comfortable lying in supine (face-up).

The therapist will use a light touch (usually no heavier than the weight of a nickel) at key points to pinpoint the source of an obstruction or stress. Once a source has been determined, the therapist may assist the natural movement of the fluid and related soft tissue to help the body self-correct. This simple action is often all it takes to remove a restriction - as the body is always trying to heal itself when given the optimal opportunity.

The patient may experience a deep sense of relaxation, combined with sensations of heat, tingling and pulsation as the body is helped to re-establish original movement/energy flow and release resistance patterns. CST works with the natural rhythms of the body with a non-invasive, light touch to achieve a response, so it is considered safe and effective for many conditions. Occasionally, the response involves a mental or emotional aspect of healing which is addressed through a therapeutic dialogue technique called SomatoEmotional Release.

Download the Health History Questionnaire

Please download the Health History Questionnaire prior to your first visit to Dover Acupuncture. The form is in Adobe PDF format, if you do not have the Adobe Acrobat Reader, please download it here.