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First Acupuncture Examination & Treatment
What happens in the 1st Acupuncture treatment?
The initial holistic Health Assessment and Acupuncture treatment.
This is a guide to explain what happens in a initial assessment and first acupuncture treatment at Acupuncture Clermont with Acupuncture Physican;
The First step
The first step is to get an appointment via phone or the contact form, you will receive the initial intake paper via e-mail that must be filled out and submitted online before 9am of the morning of the appointment.
The intake forms will ask information about medical history and the primary concerns, any relevant tests or imaging can be uploaded before the appointment to allow Dr. Walsh to begin reviewing before he meets face to face. The information will be discussed followed by a clothed physical exam, acupressure and acupuncture treatment.
It is recommended to wear/change into short pants, that easily go over the knees and a t-shirt or tank top, YOGA pants are NOT recommended.
If you wish to use health insurance the clinic must have a photo of your insurance card 3 working days before our appointment and be confirmed by our office.
Holistic Health Assessment
Postural Analysis-Getting the whole picture
You will meet with Dr. Walsh and discuss your concerns and history, the examination begins with a postural analysis to help identifying the cause of muscle and joint pain, followed by visceral-somatic reflexes testing to help identify internal conditions.
A misalignment of a joint can cause pain, inflammation even damage to the joint but it is actually muscles and other soft tissue that move and hold all joints in their alignment, x-rays are excellent to show how much they are out or the extent of the damage to a joint but they do not show which soft tissue isthe cause or pulling it out of alignment.
The muscle and tendon will shorten causing stress on the bones they attatch to, tightness, knotts, scare tissue or guarding from overuse, trauma, compensation, stress, toxins or dis-ease of internal organs.
Visceral-Somatic reflex testing
Assessing Internal Health
When organs and glands of the body when under any dis-ease or stress they will tighten specific muscles to guard to protect the
underlying organ, this is done through direct neural connections coming from the spinal cord. An example is when a person has appendicitis; the abdominal muscle on the lower right abdomen (over the appendix) will become guarded, tight and painful when pressed, it is still the primary way to diagnose appendicitis.Another example is when a doctor feels the glands on the neck because the surrounding soft tissue will tighten and swell if you have an infection. This neurological protective mechanism called visceral-cutaneous reflex or visceral-somatic reflexes been scientifically understood and established over many years and was used extensively as a diagnostic tool in medicine before the shift to almost exclusive use of tests like blood tests, x-rays, MRI etc.
This technique of diagnosis is still used by many veterinarians because it doesn’t require the patient to tell the doctor the right information for them to match the right test needed to make a diagnosis to be able to give the right treatment.
Rarely does a person feel pain over the organ that is dysfunctional and often tests can be run but the dis-ease has not progressed enough to show as a chemical change on blood test or physical change on imaging but levels of stress on the different internal systems can still be causing symptoms but the any level of stress can be immediately identified through changes to their corresponding reflex muscles.
Every human and animal have this biomechanical mechanism called the visceral-cutaneous reflex, it is part of the sympathetic nervous system and gives an inexpensive and immediate way to help diagnose the cause of dis-ease and with acupuncture it is the only way for a patient and doctor know if the acupuncture points chosen to treat will help the condition before the treatment is even performed.
It should be noted that this technique is not muscle testing when the arm (or another part of the body) is held out straight and tested for strength then asked a question or asked to hold a potential cure or a cause (supplement, energy protection band, allergen, food, etc.) to see if you the arm becomes weaker or stronger to determine positive or negative.
Acupressure
Testing how much acupuncture will work.
Checking the movement of joints, feeling the soft tissue for inflammation, pain, knots, and muscle guarding from organ reflexes is important to help diagnose the cause of many musculoskeletal and internal conditions but also to test if acupuncture will work.
Different acupuncture points are “active” or tender can be briefly stimulated with pressure or a small electrical current then improvements to movement, pain or reflex guarding is checked, the points that give the most change are the ones used, the reflexes are checked again after the treatment to see how much improvement is gained and how much result can be expected from the treatment.
Even though there are many acupuncture points that could treat the same particular organ or condition research has confirmed that not all of them will treat the same condition for each person, multiple experiments have proven that only the active acupuncture points that are inflamed/reactive will actually work for any individual when acupuncture is applied.
Traditional Chinese Medicine relies on point formulas, these formulas are set acupuncture points used to treat specific conditions, these formulas come from expert opinion or ancient text books. Scientific research and experiments have clearly shown that treating these “active” acupuncture points can stimulate the diseased organ biological programs to physically and functional repair itself.
What does acupuncture feel like
Does Acupuncture Hurt?
Many people are concerned if acupuncture is painful, the answer is it can be but does not have to be.
Traditional Chinese Medicine style acupuncture does require the practitioner to twist the needles or thrust them in or out to obtain “De Qi” or a small pain response to work effectively, this technique is also called "Dry needling" by Physical Therapists.
Science-based acupuncture uses acupressure to find and test the most “active” and effective acupuncture points first, even light pressure on these points will show immediate improvement and strong stimulation is not necessary, also less needles and no painful 'De Qi" are needed to get an effect.
The active acupressure points may be sensitive to touch but needling is painless if high quality needles with a de-sensitizing guide tubes are used, Acupuncture Clermont only uses these painless needles from Korea and Japan.
After needles are applied, the person is left to relax in private room with a heat lamp, soft music and the lights down for 25 minutes with a pager to call if uncomfortable, the needles are then removed and the reflexes and or pain are check again to assess the level of improvement.
During acupuncture most people go into a deep state of relaxation like an induced meditation or even fall asleep, a person should not feel any discomfort from the acupuncture at all, they may feel gentle electrical currents through their body, tingling and heaviness around the acupuncture points.
There are times that a person can have an emotional release during or after treatment, also feelings of euphoric can occur, but mostly felling relaxed and in less pain.
After the first acupuncture treatment
Further recommendations
A treatment plan will be discussed and possibly a herbal formula may also be prescribed if necessary to help improve treatment outcomes, most severe or chronic conditions longer than 12 months will usually require at least a minimum 6 treatments.
If pain or symptoms are severe treatments repeated twice a week until out of strong pain, but most individuals require one treatment per week until symptoms are gone, some conditions requiring monthly maintenance.
In the beginning of care if treatments are repeated twice a week, significantly faster results with less number of treatments needed to achieved results as a opposed to once per week, one a week will still get changes.
Dr. Walsh may also recommend an organic herbal formula, only 1 formula at a time is prescribed, the formulas contain several ingredients that have all been tested to work safely together to treat many symptom/conditions at once. There is no need to take expensive unregulated natural and synthetic supplements that stress the digestion, liver, kidneys and the wallet.
All Chinese herbal formulas used have been tested for heavy metals and other toxins and manufactured in the U.S.A by F.D.A & G.M.P approved faculties.
Blood tests and imaging will be only requested if deemed necessary for further information to diagnose or treatment does not change the condition within a set period of time.
What is included in follow up acupuncture treatments
What is included?
Follow up acupuncture treatments start by checking the progress of the last treatment along with changes to movement, pain or reflexes from the first treatment, acupressure testing is performed to find the best points to treat the concern, needles are applied and left for 25 minutes with or without electrical stimulation.
After the needles are removed the reflexes, movement and pain are re-checked then more acupressure is done to find if more effect can be achieved by placing a small micro-needle (semi-permanent needle) into the points to provide painless stimulation to get stronger longer lasting benefit.
These tiny needles are most commonly placed in the ear but they can also be used on the body for up to 5 days, they are water proof and are easily removed by the patient.
The Semi-permanent needles are included with the treatment because they significantly increase benefits and reduce total number of treatments needed saving time, money and suffering, more is explained about them below.Herbal formulas and vitamin injections may also be recommended at an additional charge.
Micro-needles
Semi-permanent needles / micro-dermal needles.
Acupuncture Clermont specializes in the use of the revolutionary painless micro-needles that remain superficially in the body or the ear (ear acupuncture or auricular therapy) that allows a patient to get faster, longer-lasting results reducing number and frequency of treatments needed.
Consisting of a skin-colored plaster with a plastic stud holding a tiny sterile needle only 0.05 inch (1.5 mm) long, it penetrates just below the skin to reach sensory nerve receptors triggering a continuous low-level impulse into the nervous system (no impulse is felt by the person wearing it).
They can be used on the ear or body and will not work their way deeper into the skin, remaining sterile while plaster remains adhered to the surface, they are waterproof, hypoallergenic, and completely painless, they can be removed easily like plaster or a band-aid.
References
- Terry Oleson Ph.D. Auriculotherapy Manual: Chinese and Western Systems of Ear Acupuncture. Churchill Livingston, 2014. ISBN-13: 978-0702035722.
- Acupuncture in Modern Medicine. Fung, Peter Chin Wan. Intechopen, March 6th, 2013. https://www.intechopen.com/books/acupuncture-in-modern-medicine
- Ear Acupuncture in European Traditional Medicine. Firenzuoli, Luigi Gori and Fabio. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. , 2007. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2206232/
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221 Frontage Road
Suite H.
Clermont, FL. 34711Mon: 9am-4.00pm
Tue: 9am-4.00pm
Wed: 9.30am-6.30pm
Thu: 9.30am-6.30pm
Fri: 9am-4.00pm
Sat: Closed
Sun: Closed352-234-3011
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Acupuncture Clermont © 2021
221 Frontage Road, Suite H,
Clermont, FL 34711
info@acupunctureclermont.com