Frequently Asked Questions

Acupuncture is a very safe treatment in the hands of a competent well trained and experienced practitioner. It has many benefits and few risks. It is one of the safest medical interventions in modern medicine.

Minor risks affect between 1-3% of treatments. Those occurring at the site of needling are localised pain, tingling or soreness, minor bleeding or bruising, or skin infection. Short term Fainting is a potential risk please let the practitioner know if you feel overly anxious, faint, nauseous, sweaty, lightheaded or drowsy. Minor burns from moxibustion can occur and are treated appropriately. Serious adverse events occur very rarely but have been reported in the literature. These could be more serious nerve damage or organ puncture especially of the lung.

Before you make an appointment read all in the information on the website of your practitioner, so you ensure you are well informed before you sign the consent form. On the day of your appointment make sure you are not dehydrated or hungry. Do not come to the clinic if you have a sore throat, high temperature, cough, a positive Covid test or communicable disease. If you arrive under the influence of alcohol or recreational drugs you will not be treated.

Acupuncture may leave you feeling very relaxed, tired or even euphoric. You may need to rest after treatment as the body adjusts to the changes. This may last for around 24 hours but can last several days for some people after certain treatments. You may need to sit for a while immediately after your treatment, if necessary, ask someone to drive you home. Avoid vigorous activities immediately after the treatment, sudden temperature changes or prolonged concentration.

The traditional theories of qi, blood and the meridian theory was developed in China during prescientific times and described illness in relation to the environment and what was known of anatomy at the time. Despite the age of this framework, these methods were closely observed, refined over millennia and work on the same basis today. Most of what the ancients observed can now be explained by science using different words and concepts. If you have studied or practiced Tai Chi Chuan, Qi Gong, Yoga, Martial arts Meditation or related body centered practices you may be familiar with and understand the channel or meridian pathway theory the ancients proposed, and they will be second nature to you. Fast forward several millennia and western science wanted to understand how Qi or vital energy flows through these channels. They also wondered where they were located since they are not physical structures. If you have a more scientific mind the modern theories may be of more interest so keep reading. The truth simply lies in both directions. Recently western medical science has noted changes to both the nervous system and several of the bodies biochemical responses after acupuncture needling.

It is no surprise the acupuncture channels and nervous system mapping are quite closely related. One early experiment reported in GP news in NZ involved injecting radioactive dye into acupuncture points. The medium was found to follow the path of the acupuncture channel if it was injected into an acupuncture point, however when injected into random non acupuncture points the medium would disperse into the surrounding local tissues. Interesting.

Acupuncture stimulates the peripheral nerves triggering a cascade of changes in the brain, spinal cord, nerve pathways and internal organs. Ancient practitioners who had no knowledge of the nervous system observed that needling the Shu Points regulated the organ function to which the point related. Shu Points lay on either side of the spine, alongside each of the vertebra and have a relationship to different internal organ functions. Likewise, the Points of influence known as Mu points on the front of the body do the same via the Vagus or other nerves pathways. Clever observation. Research shows after needling, the sensory (afferent) and motor nerves (efferent) release neurotransmitters which affect the brain, spinal cord and nerves, altering the central nervous system CNS and thus cognitive function, emotional response and pain sensitivity.

Acupuncture increases endogenous opioids and opioid sensitivity and helps to relieve pain. It is also thought to affect the Limbic system which processes the cognitive and emotional aspects of pain. It activates the area of the brain that leads to greater self-regulation. Acupuncture decreases the area of the brain responsible for the fight or flight response in other words, calming the sympathetic nervous system and increasing the parasympathetic nervous response producing a calm and relaxed feeling in the mind and body, slowing the heart rate and respiration. Acupuncture also decreases cortisol. All of these explain why one is often quite deeply relaxed after acupuncture, and sometimes even euphoric.

Acupuncture points seem to have higher levels of fibroblasts and needling them causes microtrauma initiating a cellular repair mechanism to induce healing effects. This phenomenon can occur anywhere on the body which is why acupuncture can be administered and applied in so many places. The ancients noticed when a person wounded in battle was left with permanent scarring on a particular point – the stimulation triggered a healing response, and sometimes a long-term health condition was resolved. The ancients didn’t know about fibroblast’s or microtrauma, but they did observe the connection. This phenomenon is called a “hermetic stressor” in modern science. Interesting

Dry needling is a form of acupuncture therapy used by practitioners where acupuncture is a secondary modality. Chiropractors, Osteopaths, Physiotherapists GPs who use dry needling do so for a limited range of conditions and cannot use the title Acupuncturist unless they are registered with the Chinese Medicine Council of New Zealand. Dry Needling is used as an adjunct for treating musculoskeletal conditions, in addition to using the primary form of therapy. It makes use of the muscle Motor points, many of which are near acupuncture points but often lie closer to the body of the muscle. Trigger points or Ahi Shi in Chinese may also be used by dry needle practitioners.

In a nutshell, the ancient practitioners observed what modern practitioners do today. Only they described the processes by different names related to the environment cold, damp, dryness or heat, depletion, stagnation or counterflow of vital qi energy. The traditional framework unpinning the practices of Chinese medicine worked for millennia and still do today regardless of whether we use traditional terminology western medical terminology or both. In discarding the old terms for the new scientific and biochemical terms we not only lose the energetic foundation of Chinese medicine but the understanding that we as humans are connected to our environment. To Conclude: All truth passes through three stages: First it is ridiculed, Second it is opposed, Third it is accepted as self-evident. -Philosopher, Arthur Schopenhauser