At your initial consultation, we’ll create a comprehensive treatment plan tailored specifically to your condition, health history, and goals.

The time it takes to feel noticeable results depends on several factors — including the severity of your symptoms, how long you’ve had them, and your overall lifestyle and stress load.

Acupuncture is not an instant fix. While many patients do feel relief right away, it’s common for that relief to fade within hours or days at first. That’s because the body is still in the process of re-patterning its healing response. Our treatment plans are designed to stabilize those improvements over time — so that relief becomes more consistent and lasting.

For milder or more recent issues, you may only need a short series of visits to resolve symptoms. For more chronic or complex conditions, the process can take a few weeks to several months, depending on how your body responds and how well we can address the underlying imbalances.

Acupuncture is one of the safest treatments you can receive when done by a licensed professional — there are virtually no harmful side effects. That said, your body is being asked to make changes, so it’s completely normal to feel a little different afterward.

Some people feel tired or achy, almost like they’ve had a deep workout — that’s usually a sign your body is shifting gears into repair mode. I always recommend having something to eat before your appointment and taking it easy afterward — skip the intense workouts or stressful errands so your body can focus on healing.

You might notice a tiny bruise or some soreness at a needle site — nothing serious, and it usually fades within a couple of days.

Once in a while, patients tell me they feel a little worse before they feel better, especially when we’re helping the body clear out inflammation or metabolize lingering pathogens. That’s actually a good sign that your system is rebalancing and recalibrating — like a reset before things start to move in the right direction again.

It varies based on severity. This is why the consultation is important. We can properly assess the severity of your condition and determine how often you will need to come in. Acupuncture does work best by cumulative effect, so expect to come in 1-3x per week until your condition stabilizes, then be tapered down.

To prevent recurrence in some cases, it is common to have a maintenance regimen of 1-2 times per month.

Acupuncture involves the insertion of hair-thin filiform needles that are about 30x less than the size of a standard hypodermic needle, and they generally do not hurt. Some regions of the body with less fatty tissue or higher concentration of nerve endings are more sensitive to needling than others, but we find that virtually all of our patients (yes, even the ones with needle-phobia!) get over it rather quickly and begin to find treatment more relaxing after the first 1-2 sessions.

Although this is absolutely not a commonplace scenario, it does happen and it is what we refer to as a "healing crisis". Many patients have nerves and tissues that are hyper-sensitive due to longstanding inflammation -- we must stimulate specific points in order to bring that sensitivity back to a healthy baseline, and sometimes it may involve "feeling worse before feeling better."

Just like how exercising induces muscle tearing in order to get stronger, acupuncture involves controlled "micro-injuries" to build up damaged tissue and regulate pain signals. It is temporary and will go away!

For new patients, the consultation itself takes about 30–45 minutes. If you wish to begin care the same day, please allow for an additional hour to complete your first treatment.

For existing patients, plan to spend about 1 hour total, including check-in, setup, and rest time. Needles are typically retained for 25–35 minutes during the treatment. Longer needle retention does not mean a more effective treatment. Acupuncture stimulates the body's natural healing mechanisms through a precise window of time -- usually around 28 minutes, which is considered the "gold standard". Beyond that, tissues can become overstimulated, muscles may start to cramp or fatigue from being still too long, and the body's relaxation response can actually begin to reverse. The goal is to create a balanced, restorative effect, not to "do more" but to let your body respond optimally within that therapeutic window.

Dry needling is actually a form of acupuncture that’s been recently adopted into some mainstream physical therapy and chiropractic practices — often with minimal training and, in many states, ongoing legal restrictions around its use.

Both acupuncture and dry needling use thin, sterile needles, but the intention, training, and depth of understanding are very different.

• Dry needling typically targets trigger points — tight, knotted areas in the muscle — and the goal is usually to release that one specific spot.

• Acupuncture, on the other hand, works within a much larger framework that considers the entire body: not just where it hurts, but why it hurts.
  

Designated acupuncture points (there are over 350 of them) are like tiny organizing hubs in the body — areas where blood flow, lymph, collagen fibers, nerve bundles, and mast cells are most concentrated. When stimulated correctly, they don’t just release a muscle; they trigger your body’s own healing cascade, restoring circulation, balance, and communication between systems.

Because of that, acupuncture can be more effective, longer-lasting, and far safer when performed by a licensed acupuncturist who understands how to read your body’s unique patterns and responses. Think of it like this:

A dry needling session is like watching a YouTube video of a recipe where even though you may end up with a decent dish, acupuncture by a trained acupuncturist is like a chef preparing a gourmet meal — understanding the ingredients, adjusting the heat, balancing flavors, and knowing how everything works together for the best result.