What to Expect From Your First Acupuncture Appointment

Your first visit to an acupuncturist is a big deal. For some patients, a first acupuncture appointment is also their first experience with the concept of integrated medicine that dates back thousands of centuries, even if it’s only recently been accepted by western medicine traditions.

We’ve put together this brief guide of what you can expect. And, of course, we always encourage you to reach out and contact us here at Mitchell Family Acupuncture to ask any questions or share any concerns you have.  

8 Things You Can Expect From a First Acupuncture Visit

Our intention is to make you feel at ease and as confident as possible about your upcoming appointment. Here are 8 things you can expect - and look forward to - as you anticipate your first acupuncture visit.

1. Welcome the experience of feeling truly heard

For many of our patients, the first appointment is also their first time to truly feel seen, heard, and understood by their healthcare provider. Most traditional medicine offices place marked time constraints, and insurance providers “cap” visit times to as little as 20 minutes. We’re not making that up! According to findings published in the National Library of Medicine, the median length of allotted appointment time for primary care visits was 15.7 minutes.

That is not the way Chinese medicine and acupuncture work. Your first appointment will take about 90 minutes from start to finish. 

As a healing modality that takes a whole-body approach to healing, our goal in this first visit is to get to know you and all we can about your needs. That’s the only way to create the personalized treatment approach we’ll use for your health plan. Our hope is that you’ll feel truly heard and witnessed. We’re as interested in the concerns of your heart as we are in the health of your body, as the two are closely intertwined.

2. Lots of intentional questions (that we hope you’ll answer honestly)

Yes, you’ll have already finished a complete questionnaire where you provided lots of information about your medical history and current concerns/health goals. However, it’s one thing to type answers in a box and another to speak face-to-face with a dedicated healing practitioner.

We’ll review your submitted answers closely. However, during your first appointment, we’ll also ask some of them again. Sometimes patients remember things they forgot to include, or their body language may provide more information than their text. Also, we’ll have additional questions for you to answer, many of which your primary physician may have never asked. 

Sleep habits

• Urinary/bowel habits

• Digestive history or complaints

• Stress levels and response

• Reproductive history

• Sex life/libido

• Menstrual cycle

• Recent/historic life challenges, big experiences, losses, traumas, or grief

Please answer as honestly and transparently as possible. Anything that pops up should be spoken to as your “body keeps the score,” and there may be something your inner-knowing feels is important to support our care plan for you.

There is nothing you can say that will shock us or cast judgment. Your honesty is part of the healing process, and we take what we learn to tenderly explore the options that will provide the most nourishing, sustainable, and effective results. What we really want is to truly know you and your story. 

3. A pulse and tongue exam

Chinese medicine uses a variety of diagnostics to inform us about the body, internal organ function, stress levels, the biome (microflora and fauna), and more. To read the body’s messaging, we will take your pulse and examine your tongue, in addition to other assessments common to a basic physical exam.

It is from this big-picture approach to physical assessment that we target the Chinese herbs, supplements, acupuncture, or other healing modalities to support your current needs.  

4. The ability to completely relax and let go

One of the first things patients do when they enter our office and treatment rooms is to take a big, deep breath. This is a tremendous compliment to us, a sign their body automatically intuits the space as safe, relaxing, and supportive.

Here, there is no reason to hang on to any tension, worry, or stress. Time spent in our office is your chance to put all of that on the shelf, where it can remain as we work to unblock, open, and restore the body back to balance. 

5. A pain-free acupuncture experience

By and large, pain or fear of needles is our first-time patients' top concern. Fortunately, you don’t have to worry about either. First, acupuncture is not painful. The needles are very fine, and they only penetrate deep enough to interact with the body’s energy flow (called Qi, pronounced chee). At the very most, you may feel an occasional, gentle prick that immediately recedes. If your fear of needles or pain prevails, that is no problem.

Instead, we can use Qi Needle Treatments, which don’t use needles at all. Instead, we apply gentle pressure to key meridian points along the body. This activates energy similarly to acupuncture without needles. When you’re ready for needles, we’ll move to acupuncture.

6. Healing may occur beyond what you expected

Most of the time, the “whole body” approach to acupuncture means you’ll benefit in ways you never expected. For example, you may come in to treat migraines and find you also end up benefiting from deeper and more healthy sleep habits. Or, acupuncture for fertility may have been your primary goal, yet you find the results have completely rebalanced your stress levels and digestion in addition to supporting your fertility. 

We hope the healing you experience here goes beyond whatever ailment or discomfort brought you here.

7. You (often) get to keep your clothes on

In most cases acupuncture sessions can be done with your clothes on. As we mentioned above, your comfort and sense of security are a primary concern, so we’ll work patiently with you to ensure your body says “Yes,” before trying any of our recommended healing treatments, ranging from acupuncture and Qi Needle techniques to massage, moxibustion therapy, meridian massage, abdominal massage, herbal recommendations and nutritional/lifestyle advice.

8. Your next appointment might be different

Because we utilize an array of healing modalities, and the body is always changing, no two visits are exactly alike. Regardless of the care plan we create for you, we’re always attuned to what’s going on for you from visit to visit - and we alternate healing treatments accordingly.

Contact Mitchell Family Acupuncture to Put Your Concerns to Rest

Do you have additional questions or concerns about what to expect from your first acupuncture appointment? Please don’t hesitate to contact us here at Mitchell Family Acupuncture, 510-558-0117. We don’t want you to spend a single minute worrying about it. Instead, get the answers you need to step further into your most calm and ready-for-healing self.