Wondering about acupuncture and how many treatments?

New patient’s coming in for acupuncture treatment will often ask, “How many treatments will it take to address my health issue?” This is a difficult question to precisely define. Benefits differ from patient to patient mostly because each patient’s personal state of health defines their natural healing ability – something I explained in a previous article called Acupuncture Stimulates Natural Healing Abilities.

Here’s an example; two patients come in with back pain; Patient One has additional health issues including being over-weight with high blood pressure, diabetes, migraine headaches and arthritis. Patient Two is in pretty good health and only complains about back pain. It’s easy to understand that Patient Two is in better shape and will probably have a better response to treatment.

So to satisfy treatment expectations in general, I explain to all my patients that if you follow the treatment plan and are not experiencing any benefits within 10 treatments than this therapy is not going to be very helpful and other recommendations will need to be explored.

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Photo Credit: “Seljalandsfoss, Suðurland, Islandia, 2014-08-16, DD 201-203 HDR” by Diego Delso. Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons.