More and more Americans have questions about what to expect at a typical visit and about the system of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) as acupuncture grows in popularity. Patients may leave with even more questions than when they came in after a visit, and with their acupuncturists’ somewhat peculiar and different way of evaluating their condition they may worry or be confused about what their acupuncturists are doing.
Health evaluation using 10 questions procedure
The patient will undergo a focused evaluation of his/her chief complaint during a visit with an acupuncturist. After that, the acupuncturist will need to perform his/her own version of the traditional health evaluation and “10 Question” review of systems. This phase of the treatment will encompass all aspects of the patient’s health. This phase addresses physical concerns such as lung, heart, and digestive function, as well as energy, sleep, pains and others. This is also the time when the acupuncturist observes the constitutional aspects of your health. This includes qualities like weaknesses and strengths within your system, as well as your emotions, mood, and body temperature.
Examination of the tongue
The oddest aspect of the visit may perhaps be when your acupuncturist examines your tongue. What does the tongue have to do with your condition? In Chinese medicine, the tongue holds a lot of information in knowing the condition you are suffering from. Its characteristics give the acupuncturist a window to see what is going on inside the body and can reflect the state of health of the GI system and the gut. Moreover, anomalies in the tongue’s coating, geography, size, color, and shape can indicate various types of disharmonies inside the body. To know if this type of examination truly works, start monitoring your tongue at home and you will see that the various changes the tongue undergo correlate with the condition and symptoms you are experiencing.
Thorough evaluation of the tongue
One other one-of-a-kind diagnostic tool an acupuncturist uses during your visit is the examination of your pulse. This type of pulse exam is very different to the pulse exam of Western medicine. First of all, an acupuncturist’s pulse examination takes up to several minutes exhaustively palpating the pulse on both wrists in three positions. During the TCM practitioner’s palpation of the pulse, much more is evaluated than just the pulse rate. The beat’s pattern, characteristic, length, depth, vessel tension, and strength are all linked and important indicators to various aspects of health of the organs and other parts of the body.
Needling
When an acupuncture needle is inserted into the body, most of the time, the patient may feel a small zing or pinch that usually does not last more than a few seconds. A proper insertion should not generate strong lasting stabbing, sharp, and/or burning pains. Some needles may produce a dull ache in the surrounding area, which in Chinese, is known as “de-qi” and is a good sign that the treatment is going well. It indicates that energy or qi is properly flowing at the site of the sensation. All treatments are specifically designed for the pain tolerance, constitutional strength, and condition of the patient.
How does the acupuncturist know where to insert the needles? Selecting the point of treatment is based on the patient’s constitution and on the symptoms of the condition. The needles can potentially be inserted anywhere but usually they are placed at points on the stomach, back, ears, head, ankles and wrists. A qualified and accredited acupuncturist in Maitland is trained in various needling systems on the feet, hands, stomach, scalp, and ears and in the proper angle and depth of insertion for each of the standard acupoints in the body. Tens of centuries ago, these acupoints have been located and have been safely used and properly defined since then.