If you have been coming for acupuncture for a while, you may have noticed that your treatment is not always exactly the same.
Some acupuncture points may be used again, while others change. One visit may include cupping or moxibustion, while another may not. Even when you are coming in for the same main concern, the treatment can look a little different from one appointment to the next.
That is intentional.
Acupuncture is not necessarily based on using a fixed set of points for a particular symptom. Treatment can change based on what is happening with you at that particular visit.
Your Symptoms Are Only Part of the Picture
In East Asian medicine, the same symptom can appear for different reasons.
Two people may both come in with headaches, trouble sleeping or digestive discomfort, but the patterns behind those symptoms may not look the same. Even within the same person, those patterns can shift over time.
This is why your acupuncturist may ask about things that seem unrelated to your main concern, such as sleep, digestion, energy, stress or changes since your last visit.
Those details help create a fuller picture of what is happening that day.
Your Body Changes From Week to Week
How you feel is influenced by many things: sleep, activity, stress, food, your menstrual cycle, illness, travel and changes in your daily routine, among others.
A symptom that felt sharp and constant a week ago may now be milder but accompanied by stiffness. Sleep may have improved while digestion has become more noticeable. Something new may have happened since your previous appointment.
Rather than automatically repeating the last treatment, acupuncture allows the approach to be adjusted as those changes occur.
Some Points May Stay the Same
An individualized treatment does not mean every acupuncture point needs to change at every appointment.
Certain points may continue to be appropriate and may be used repeatedly. Others may be added, removed or substituted depending on what is found during the consultation and assessment.
Techniques such as moxibustion, cupping, gua sha or electroacupuncture may also be incorporated when appropriate.
The goal is not to make every treatment different. It is to make each treatment appropriate for what is happening at that time.
Why Your Acupuncturist Checks In at Every Visit
That brief conversation at the beginning of an appointment matters.
It gives you an opportunity to mention what has improved, what has not changed and anything new that has come up. Your acupuncturist may also observe the tongue, feel the pulse, palpate the abdomen or assess areas of discomfort depending on the treatment style being used.
These findings can help guide decisions about that day’s treatment.
Treatment Can Evolve as You Do
One of the things I value most about acupuncture is that treatment does not have to follow a rigid formula.
As symptoms change and your priorities shift, the treatment can shift with them. Sometimes those changes are significant. Other times, only a few small adjustments are needed.
That ability to respond to the person in front of me is an important part of how I approach acupuncture at Tara Acupuncture & Wellness.
If you are curious about acupuncture or would like to learn more about how treatment is approached, you can explore our acupuncture services or schedule an appointment in Rancho Bernardo, San Diego.