A long time ago, before I became an acupuncturist, a co-worker’s husband related an amazing story to me about his experience with acupuncture. After being plagued for years with low back pain, he had amazing results after just one treatment from an acupuncturist back on Long Island. He said was playing tennis later that week without pain. I don’t know if he even went back in for follow up visits.
It is an amazing story. I think many people, eager to quickly get out of pain, will decide to look up an acupuncturist after hearing one of these single-treatment miracle stories from a friend, or reading a testimonial. But I want to prepare you for a possible let down.
Yes, these one treatment miracles do occur, but they are the exception rather then the rule. Acupuncture can get extremely good results with many types of pain, but major results usually come after a set or grouping of treatments, not a single stand-alone treatment. In China a course of treatments is 10 fairly closely together spaced treatments.
Yet when many people say they “tried” acupuncture, they may mean they went in and tried it once. Being a nation of instant gratification, many of people think that if they don’t feel any different after one visit then there is no point in continuing. In many cases of chronic lower back pain, I usually start seeing hearing patients report notable improvement after treatment five or six.
Now, if your spacing those treatments close together such as 2-3 times per-week, you can get this improvement in 2-3 weeks. However if your coming in at a leisurely rate of once per week, your looking at well over a month!
If you’ve tried an acupuncture treatment on a cruise or in a spa setting, you’ve probably received a general introduction to acupuncture, and experienced the relaxation that accompanies a good session. But, if you want to make some real progress on your health, you need to establish a relationship with an acupuncturist in your area, and invest the time to get the lasting results you are looking for.
Great article. So true! I see many people who say they tried acupuncture and it didn’t work. When I ask them how many treatments they received, often the answer is just one!
Thanks for Stopping by Elie! Yes, it is amazing how many people think one treatment will let them know whether acupuncture will help them. But it will be up to us to educated people.
Eric
that’s a great story. I talked with someone about acupuncture for her back pain and they said they don’t like needles. This was from a person with a lot of tattoos.
Hello! Thank you for this post about acupuncture. I am suffering from back pain for 3 years now an I am considering acupuncture to get rid of the pain. I think I am giving it a try this month.