Frequently Asked Questions regarding Acupuncture 

It is unlikely that you will experience side effects. Very occasionally people note a slight light-headedness following acupuncture, or loose bowels after taking herbs, but this is rare.

Painful conditions can acutely intensify or even move to a different part of the body – this can be because your body is trying to heal and adjust. If you do experience side effects, your treatment can usually be easily modified to avoid these reactions. Please contact your practitioner if you are unsure – they can professionally advise the next course of action. 

People often say they have tried acupuncture once and it didn’t work. Ideally, it is recommended to receive treatment in a course, the same way that antibiotics are advised. For example, if your main complaint has been present for a couple or a few days, you could expect a quick healing response with 1-2 treatment. If you’re main complaint has been for 2-3 months, you could expect treatments to be twice weekly treatments for 2-3 weeks, until symptoms subside and then resolve. If you’re complaint has been chronically present for years, you could expect months of treatment, depending on the condition.

If you are worried it’s anything like getting a blood test or vaccination, then NO it is nothing like those!

In the tradition of TCM, a physical complaint addressed with acupuncture and/or herbs simultaneously addresses the corresponding emotional and spiritual counterpart to that physical complaint. In the same way, treating an emotional and/or spiritual complaint will also address the corresponding physical complaint. An example of this can be seen with digestive issues and the tendency to ruminate, worry or over think. Chinese medicine being a holistic therapy may maximize your overall energy level and minimize fearful reactions, anxiety, in your daily life. This is achieved by regulating both the systems of the body and the mind simultaneously.

In my experience, patients that start acupuncture for a physical complaint, come back for subsequent treatments with unexpected improvement in symptoms such as insomnia, anxiety or other and emotional difficulties. I’ve also seen many patients ashamed or embarrassed to share with me that they are experiencing emotional or mental upheaval as a main complaint, while addressing a physical ailment such as “tense shoulders from sitting behind the desk at the office”, yet they are experiencing insomnia, panic attacks or deep depression simultaneously.

Everyone experiences ups and downs …that’s life! But the stigma around mental health in Australia is BIG! As a holistic practitioner, I strive to make you feel as comfortable as possible during the treatment so that all aspects of your health improve – body, mind and spirit 🙂

For women having difficulty falling pregnant naturally, the treatment includes regulating the cycle so that everything is functioning well. Treatments are aimed at regulating the follicular development, ovulation, correcting hormones after the egg bursts from its follicle at ovulation, healthy vaginal discharge and then preparing the cycle to repeat, or treat in accordance with assisting the woman stay pregnant.

Men are also recommended to receive treatment and seek tests for semen analysis if needed. Although many people still think of infertility as a “woman’s problem,” in about 40% of infertile couples, the man is the sole cause or a contributing cause of the inability to conceive.

Along with acupuncture, pre-conception care usually involves a combination of diet, herbal remedies, lifestyle and exercise modification such as decreasing stress and light-moderate exercise 3-4 times per week for both the man and the woman. There may be additional lifestyle changes when gynaecological conditions are present such as Polycystic ovaries, however each individual is treated according to their presentation.

Contact me here about any questions regarding acupuncture for your IVF transfer or labour induction.

Click here to read more about basal body temperature (BBT) mapping for woman.

No. Dry needling is a technique for the treatment of muscular pain and myofascial dysfunction, based on Western anatomical and neurophysiological principles often known as trigger points. It is a very short course, such as weekend training (8-12 hours), taken by practitioners of physical therapy such as sports massage therapists or physiotherapists. Within Australia, the dry needling training outside of an Acupuncture degree is not safe or regulated to protect the public from lung punctures, nerve damage or further injury because the amount of training hours is not enough.

“Myofascial ‘dry’ needling is one small component within a complete 4-year Acupuncture degree but should not to be confused with the Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) technique of acupuncture which is based on thousands of years of clinical practice to treat a large array of health concerns where the root of the issue is treated. Registered acupuncturists can use trigger point techniques. AHPRA registered acupuncturists must now do a Bachelor level training with a high level of needle training before graduating (see the image below), plus maintain continuing education every year. Make sure your practitioner is AHPRA (acupuncture) registered when using needles on you. 

Yes. Acupuncturists and Chinese herbal practitioners or any practitioner of Traditional Chinese Medicine need to be licensed by the Australian Health Practitioners Agency (AHPRA), alongside general practitioners, nurses etc. AHPRA sets standards and policies that all acupuncturists must meet in order to practice Chinese Medicine. Registration now requires a 4 year Bachelor of Health Science degree, hundreds of hours of supervised clinical training and have Western physiological, biochemistry and pharmacokinetic drug interaction knowledge. Read more about my training, or contact me here.