Your questions, answered

Easy! Call (802) 432-8865, email me Holly@ quecheeacupuncture.com or book online

Acupuncture is very safe. The average liability coverage for an acupuncturist is about $300 per year, while primary care physicians pay an average of $15,000 per year. That’s a 20:1 difference. While this may not translate into exactly a 20 to 1 difference in safety, a visit to an acupuncturist is at least as safe as a visit to your doctor, if not safer.

Acupuncture needles are extremely safe, because they are pre-sterilized, individually packaged, and disposable. Every practitioner gets extensive training in clean needle technique and anatomy so as to avoid accidentally inserting a needle in a place that can cause damage.

Most people barely feel a thing when acupuncture needles are inserted. Occasionally, the needle will produce a temporary sting, some people feel a slight pinch, and many others ask “Is it in yet?” The reason acupuncture needles don’t give the painful sensation you might expect is because they’re very, very thin in comparison to the hypodermic needles used to give injections. Hypodermic needles are necessarily hollow so that the shot can be injected. They also have a very blunt point (actually a wedge shape) in comparison to an acupuncture needle. Forty acupuncture needles can fit into the tip of one standard 18 gauge hypodermic needle.

There are certain sensations associated with the therapeutic effects of acupuncture, which are known as de qi (pronounced “de-chee”). These may include slight cramping, heaviness, distention, tingling or electric sensation traveling along a meridian. If any discomfort is experienced, it is usually mild and short-lived. If the sensation lingers more than a few seconds, it is important to inform the practitioner so they may correct the situation..

Dry  Needling, also known as Trigger Point Needling, is the use of  acupuncture needle to release trigger points, motor points or tight  muscles. The Western version of it began in the mid-1900s with Dr. Janet  Travell, who mapped the effects of Trigger Points in the body. It’s  called “dry” needling because it originally was the injection of either  pain relievers or saline into the trigger points. They found good  results without the use of injections, hence the term “dry.”

In Chinese Medicine, we use the term “Ashi” point to refer to trigger  points. Ashi needling has been an integral part of acupuncture for  centuries. However, as acupuncturists, we have many other ways of treating problem areas which are useful if the area is particularly painful or needs to be avoided because of a wound or surgery.

One main difference is in terminology. The same acupuncture needles  are used, and the Ashi/Trigger points are the same in people, too.  Physical therapists do not use distal points or related meridians to treat an area.

The other difference is in training. 

Physical Therapists and  Chiropractors have a lot of training in the mechanics and structure of  the body and are very good at what they do. However, they have very few  hours of training in needling. They are only required to have 48 hours  in continuing education course to practice needling.

Acupuncturists have 700 hours of supervised training in needling, as  part of their 3000 hour degree. They are taught how to do many styles  and techniques, along with needle angle and safe depth of needling.  There is also in-depth on precautions and contra-indications of  needling. Not all acupuncturists have the depth of musculoskeletal  training as PTs/Chiros, but many have taken additional course of study.

In addition to her 3000 hours of Acupuncture training, Dr. Holly has  over 2000 hours of advanced  training.

Dry needling is currently the subject of much debate in the U.S. Six states, as  of 2017, do not allow Physical Therapists to perform Dry Needling.  Several other states are in the process of debating whether to continue  to allow it. All states allow acupuncturists to perform Ashi needling.