Acupuncture here is rarely the whole of what someone gets, and describing it as part of a plan is more honest than describing it as a treatment on its own. Fine sterile needles at selected points, twenty to thirty minutes lying down, mild bruising as the usual side effect. That is the procedure.
What it does reliably, in most people, is change the state of the nervous system for a while: less held tension, easier breathing, better sleep that night. What it does not do is change the load that produced the problem. So if a neck is sore because of forty hours at a laptop and a pillow that stopped working two years ago, the needling buys comfort and the other two things decide whether it lasts.
That is why an appointment here includes the unglamorous part — how you sit, what you lift, when you sleep, what the week actually contains — and why the plan has two or three specific things to change alongside the sessions. It is also why we put a review point in: commonly four sessions, after which we either continue with a reason or change approach.
Where acupuncture is not the right tool, we say so. Nerve pain with weakness, a joint that will not move, anything with fever, and any new unexplained symptom go to a doctor first. Practitioners are registered with AHPRA under the Chinese Medicine Board and the register is public. The clinic is in Lane Cove, five minutes from the village.
