I’m not going to lie here. Yes, sometimes, for a moment. The needles are very thin, literally hair thin, and most of the time you may feel a very slight prick as it touches your skin. That feeling is very momentary, and sometimes you don’t even notice that..

Other times, especially on the hands and feet where there is more nerve supply, the needle may feel a little sharp, but again, that is fleeting. Taking a deep breath into your belly, and breathing out slowly will ease any needle insertion, and decreases the sensitivity of the needle dramatically. The point is to feel the needle sensation (also knows as “de qi”), and to prompt your body to make a change, though we want to do this as comfortably as possible. After the initial insertion, the more important sensations you may notice could be a tingling, radiating or dull heavy feeling. If I am working on deeper ligaments you may definitely feel a more prominent dull ache. This is good. This is the feeling of energy, or qi, moving, and this is the point (eesh) of acupuncture, to move qi. Once the qi can move, blood will follow. That new blood in the area is what starts the healing process.

This is a very common occurrence. The phrase “everything is connected” is very relevant to acupuncture and Chinese medicine. Treating an arm by putting needles in your leg is very common, or a head for a back, or shoulder for a hip.  There are 6 major channels on each side of the body. Just one will run from the very end of your toes, up your legs and torso, to the top of your head, then back down to the tips of your fingers. If I put a needle in your ankle, you may very well feel a tingling qi sensation in your wrist.

Acupuncture needles stay in the body at least 30 minutes. This is the amount of time it takes for qi to make a complete circuit through an acupuncture channel. There is always an intake involved before the acupuncture needles are put in, which includes questioning and pulse taking. An average appointment lasts an hour, sometimes they are as short as 45 minutes when the intake is can be done quickly.