Here are a few responses to a question that may have hundreds of answers...

• to help you relax
• to help you feel more energized
• to help you avoid illness/injury
• to help alleviate physical pain
• to help you think more clearly
• to help you stop thinking (especially around bedtime)
• to help with digestive issues including GERD and IBS
• to use alongside many conventional therapies/medications for the purpose of augmenting their effect and lowering doses
• to add legitimate choices for your health care assistance

Though hardly a complete list of symptoms that acupuncture is known to effectively help manage, we'll offer up a list of 'no-brainer' conditions – that is, situations that should absolutely be treated with acupuncture without hesitation:

• Abdominal Pain
• Addiction assistance
• Anxiety
• Arthritis
• Asthma
• Athletic performance
• Back/neck pain
• Blood pressure regulation
• Bronchitis
• Chronic fatigue
• Common cold
• Constipation
• Depression
• Diarrhea
• GERD/heartburn
• Headaches/Migraines
• IBS
• Immune system tonification
• Indigestion
• Infertility
• Insomnia
• Menopausal symptoms
• Muscle cramping/pain
• Nervousness
• Neurogenic bladder dysfunction
• Numbness
• Parkinson's disease
• Postoperative pain
• Premenstrual syndrome
• Sciatica
• Sinusitis
• Stress reduction
• Post-Stroke care
• Tonsillitis
• Toothache
• Vertigo

You'll need to fill out our simple health and history form which can take a few minutes to complete.  These are emailed out to you once registered with us on our scheduling platform called, JaneApp.  Conversely, paper and pen versions of the forms are also available if you arrive 15 minutes before your scheduled appointment time at your first visit.

You'll then talk with your acupuncturist to discuss your health concern(s) and share some information together after which time an initial treatment plan will be recommended for you. Your acupuncture treatment comes next.

Once in the treatment room it is your responsibility to be warm and comfortable. We're here to help of course, but please make yourself at home by removing shoes and socks, putting all belongings into the plastic bin located next to/behind each chair and extending the chair's foot-rest. Expect to be relaxing during your treatment for about an hour, though the length of time a treatment lasts is ultimately up to each person. We recommend staying at least 20-30 minutes.

Most acupuncture treatments in the United States take place on a table in a room by oneself. We all know the value of 'power in numbers', right? Would you prefer to eat in an empty restaurant, or one that has other people eating too? 

The benefits or sharing treatment space in an acupuncture clinic include lower prices, the ability for friends and family to be treated together (often less intimidating for first-timers), and an atmosphere of infectious relaxation. 

The community setting also allows patients to decide how long their treatment will take, as the 'right' amount of time varies from person to person, visit to visit. This can take anywhere from twenty minutes to a couple of hours. You can stay as long as you feel comfortable doing so – or until we close for the day! When you are feeling as though you are ready to end your visit or need to get our attention, just give us a meaningful look and we will remove your needles or be available otherwise.
Lastly, our clinic employs a sliding-scale fee schedule to help make acupuncture available to many more people who otherwise could not afford market rates.

This is really the million-dollar question. The easiest answer we can offer, in bio-medical terms, is that no one has a definitive explanation. In all likelihood there isn't one factor, but that many reactions going on at once involving different systems - including the central nervous system – that allow acupuncture to have such wide, strong and lasting effects. This can be seen by people predictably being eased out of the “fight or flight” response (sympathetic) into the “rest and recuperate” state (parasympathetic) once needles are placed during a treatment. At the simplest level, acupuncture helps bring our bodies back into balance and facilitate our own healing mechanisms.

While not entirely painless, usually not much at all. Most people are deeply relaxed and/or asleep once all acupuncture needles are placed.

The number of treatments one may need depends on the severity, intensity and duration of the symptoms being addressed. Your acupuncturist will discuss an initial treatment plan with you at your first visit. 

As a rule of thumb, most chronic conditions require 4-10 total treatments within a 2-4 week time frame to show obvious change. It’s common to feel some relief after a first visit. Relief from chronic conditions can be maintained with 1-2 follow-up visits/month.

Acute conditions will normally show change much more quickly.

Generally about an hour. Once the needles are placed, you can rest in the treatment room as long as you like (edit: up to an hour due to the pandemic). Some people do best with shorter treatments, some people like to rest with the needles for a long time (our record is 6 hours!). After a few treatments, you may get a sense for when you are "done." If you need to be out a certain time be sure to let your practitioner know as falling asleep during a treatment is very common.

Yes, always. For the last 25-30 years acupuncturists use one-time use, sterilized, disposable needles as the industry standard. So there is no re-using of needles even from one part of the body to another. Sterile package opened, needle in, needle out and put into a bio-hazard box to dispose of responsibly and that's it.

You will remain fully-clothed during your treatment. Plan to wear something loose & comfortable. Many of the acupuncture points we use most commonly sit at the hands, feet, arm, and legs. Wearing clothing that can be pushed up to access these areas is best for all of us.

After paying for the visit and scheduling future visits (if needed) at the front desk, our patients bring themselves into the treatment room and make themselves comfortable in a recliner of their choice. It's the responsibility of our patients to make themselves warm and comfortable, taking off shoes and socks, turning down cell phones and otherwise getting ready for their treatment. After a brief conversation between patient and acupuncturist chair-side, a specific set of points are chosen. If you need to be up at a certain time, let your acupuncturist know and we'll do our best to have you awake and finished by then.

Absolutely not. You only have to believe enough to show up a few times in order to give yourself the chance to see if acupuncture is turning out to be a useful tool for you.

You can expect to feel relaxed for several minutes to several hours following an acupuncture treatment. Reactions specific to particular injuries or health concerns should be addressed with your acupuncturist on an individual basis. Ask us.