Stages of Care for Acupuncture

While it’s great when it happens, acupuncture isn’t always a one-time experience where everything gets better. The number of sessions required varies from person to person. While people often feel better after the first session, they should do 4-6 treatments in 2 weeks to really assess how well it would work for them and what their treatment plan will should be. As the cumulative effects of acupuncture take hold, you start to move through the 3 Stages of Care for Acupuncture:

Stage 1: Acute Care

This stage focuses primarily on treating the chief complaint, i.e. the pain or illness that lowers the quality of life. During this stage, acupuncture care is most effective when done at least 2 times per week, and we usually recommend a series of 4-6 treatments to start.

Stage 2: Helping the Body Rediscover Balance

In Eastern Medicine, it’s a life out-of-balance that causes pain and illness. Because it is holistic in nature, Eastern Medicine provides a context to diagnose and treat these imbalances. During this stage of acupuncture care, treatment sessions are usually every 1-2 weeks, and there is often an accompanying herbal formula.

Stage 3: Acupuncture Tune-ups

While we ideally strive for a life that creates its own balance, the stress of modern reality can be quite challenging to stay in balance. Thus it’s helpful to schedule regular acupuncture care ‘tune-ups’ once per month.

For example, as we enter into the Fall, it’s worthwhile to consider doing a whole body tune-up to strengthen our immune system and better prepare ourselves to absorb the bountiful yin energy of coolness, contemplation, and consolidation that comes with Winter, and this in turn gets us ready for the renewal of Spring.