Acupuncture Treatments
Your First Visit:
A typical first visit will last 60-90 minutes. I generally try and plan the time we have together during the first visit with minimal interruptions. We will contact a face to face discussion reviewing your chronological health history, and use the remaining time for physical eval / palpation diagnosis and treatment. Generally I will try and make sure you leave with:
1) A hypothesis about why you feel the way you do
2) The role acupuncture and associated modalities can play in solving this problem
3) A few simple ideas about how you can help yourself (lifestyle modification, exercise based self care ect.)
4) A rough idea about how long the treatment process will last and the frequency of treatment.
Please bring a pair of shorts if we are focusing on lower extremity or a tank top or loose fitting shirt if we are focusing on the upper extremity.
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A NOTE ON SCHEDULING:
I have opened online scheduling. The amount of time I spend with patients can vary quite a lot based on the style of treatment employed. For instance some people prefer classical acupuncture treatment and total treatment contact time is about 15 mins per 60 min visit. I will generally check in, start some acupuncture treatment, let you “cook” on the table. The degree of treatment “dose” is really dependent on treatment goals and how much stimulus your body can tolerate. Some individuals need longer amounts of contact time with more soft tissue treatment and needling techniques. Treatments evolve and this process can shift in response to how your body reacts to treatment stimulus.
If you CANNOT find an acceptable time for an appointment online please let me know and I may be able to move things around / find an alternate time.
brendan@acunorth.com
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Payments
Payments accepted in order or preference: cash, Venmo, check, cc (all major including HSA / FSA cards). Payment is due at the time of service.
A strict cancellation of 24 hours notice or 1 business day is required for all canceled appointments or the fee for appointment will be charged. In order to book the initial eval payment is required ahead of time. If you prefer to pay with cash, VENMO, check or in person please email me your preferred appointment time: brendan@acunorth.com.
Please note I do not direct bill insurance but can provide you with a medical receipt with procedural codes to submit to your insurance company. If your insurance company requires your provider to be “in network” you may need to seek an out of network exception for treatment.
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Why is this acupuncture DIFFERENT?
1. Palpation-based therapy.
Our body is a living, dynamic organism. One of the powers of acupuncture that creates the illusion of magic is that the right acupuncturist knows how to access this system with pinpoint accuracy. It's kind of like playing darts with a blindfold versus without - you achieve a lot more accuracy if you listen to the body and use an immediate feedback system. The ability for the body and brain to give us immediate feedback allows confirmation that the right treatment is being administered and allows us to optimize treatment response.
Many acupuncturists will do a short intake followed by needles followed by rest. The palpation based system, with roots from a blind practitioners in Japan, allows the patient and practitioner to see and feel changes immediately. With greater treatment specificity, one can achieve improved, long-lasting results.
2. Structural and Functional Mechanics of the Body
Imagine that you just had your tires changed, rotated and serviced, balanced, whatever. Now it’s time to fly down the I-95 ect. but your driver side front tire lug nuts were not tightened properly. In fact, they were just tightened by hand - how does your car run? POORLY. The structural integrity of the body is important. Often times our body has joints, soft tissue, scars or even emotions that are laying dormant and untreated. Global treatment of the body (or root and branch style treatments) allows healing to take place in a much shorter time frame.
Take a look at yourself in the mirror and see what your posture looks like? What is our idea of good posture? Can you now imagine that your posture is influencing your function? If your body is not in the right position, then you will not have the right function. This is a BIOMECHANICAL FACT. Position of the body will dictate tension. Increased tension leads to increased dysfunction. Increased dysfunction overtime gradually leads to disease and sickness. Part of the process is to start by looking at where your body is holding tension OR starting with where your body has dysfunction and eliminating the tension that resides in that location.
This treatment style allows the practitioner to be a mechanic of sorts. Some people do have the time and knowledge to be their own mechanics, but for most of us, at least from time to time, we need a little help.
3. Nervous System Overload and Changing the Way We Move
Five main ways to help restore your body include (and I’m sure there are others)
Correct breathing
Correct movement
Improve sleep
Bolster stress response
Improve / Optimize Diet
Generally disease comes from a few basic categories. The body, our internal organ system and trauma - both physical and emotional. But after we are on this planet for multiple years and have accumulated compensation patterns and sympathetic dominance how do we unwind this system and restore it? Many times it comes down to the 5 elements described above.
Bringing It All Together
In summary, palpation-based acupuncture is structural in nature. We take real time palpatory information utilizing immediate feedback and constant analysis of the structural and functional mechanics of the body to restore balance in your system. That is the yin and yang of this medicine. Where there is too movement create stillness and where there is too much stillness create movement.
Dry Needling
Dry Needling Therapy is a western-style therapy that allows a high degree of dosage and specificity to be delivered in treatment. The number of dry needling therapists in Massachusetts is rapidly growing given the demand and success of the treatment.
Currently, there are only two however who are trained by MyoPain Seminars, who offers the most comprehensive and demanding certification course in content, testing, and competency.
Fascial Manipulation
Stecco Fascial Manipulation (or FM) has its roots in Italy from a physical therapist named Luigi Stecco. Stecco has created a method of treatment combination that balances the body and is based in science. This treatment method is highly effective and is backed by numerous research studies as well as over 200 live cadaver dissections. Fascia is an emerging science, but more and more we are beginning to understand the importance of this highly overlooked structure from both a movement and pain perspective.
Postural Restoration Exercises
The Postural Restoration Institute in Lincoln, Nebraska, is an institute developed to “explore and explain the science of postural adaptations, asymmetrical patterns and the influence of polyarticular chains of muscles. Our mission is based on the development of an innovative treatment that addresses the primary contributions of postural kinematic movement dysfunction.” (https://www.posturalrestoration.com/about, Aug 2015)
Treatment Goal
Our treatment goal is to combine what we believe to be the underlying nature of your problem, pattern, disharmony, etc. and to effectively treat and reduce the immediate symptomatic problem.
Generally, 1-4 treatments are recommend at the beginning of a treatment cycle. With proper compliance of homecare activities you should find with resources that you can treat yourself. Our goal is never to establish a forever weekly treatment.
With sound clinical reasoning and investigation some changes should be observed within 1-4 treatments; otherwise an alternative therapy is needed.