Island Acupuncture & Massage

Acupuncture is a deeply relaxing and transformative healing art. Acupuncture serves as a powerful tool for accessing your body’s unique and innate ability to heal itself. At Island Acupuncture we focus on 3 priorities. The first priority is to relieve your pain or symptom. The second is to address the root cause. The third priority, and sometimes the most important, is a preventative, wellness or maintenance program. Stress is one of the major causative factors in many illnesses and diseases. One of the many ways acupuncture works is by strengthening the body and lessening the impact of stress on the body. Within our final goal we work together to decide what kind of program will help you maintain your new level of health and wellness.
 

We typically recommend new patients begin with a brief course of treatment consisting of 3 to 5 acupuncture treatments over the course of 2 to 3 weeks. In most cases there is a noticeable improvement in the patient’s condition within the first few treatments. This is the first stage of care. During this time you will have a chance to experience acupuncture. We will have a chance to work with you and closely monitor your improvements and evaluate the efficacy of your care. We like to see functional improvement in any symptom you may present within 3 to 5 treatments. You may benefit from further treatment, but the initial treatments will give us an idea of our goal for the second priority in your care. It is common to experience a gradual, noticeable improvement in one’s overall health as the treatments progress.
 

Your first acupuncture treatment will begin after an evaluation has been preformed. Sterile, disposable (filiform) needles are placed on strategic points throughout the body. As the needles are placed patients often experience a numbing, tingling, warming, or radiating sensation. Typically 10-20 needles are used for an adult treatment. Once all the needles are in place you will lay comfortably for 20-30 minutes. Many people feel such a deep sense of relaxation that they fall asleep during their treatment. During and/or after the acupuncture therapy, other adjunct techniques may be used. These include, electro acupuncture, cupping, moxabustion, tui na, or therapeutic massage. The need for herbal therapy, nutritional counseling, and self care education is assessed with each visit. Your practitioner may give you an herbal formula to take, or provide dietary recommendations.
 

You can email us at islandacupunctureobx@gmail.com or you can call us at 252-449-8122. If you have scheduled an appointment, please print and fill out our intake form and bring it with you. We usually see patients by appointment only. If you’re lucky, we could squeeze you in as a walk in, but our best advice is to make an appointment in advance.
 

When you come for your appointment, make sure you are well hydrated starting earlier that day but don’t drink a lot of water right before you come in; some say “acupuncture makes you pee”. Wear loose fitting clothes, as most major acupuncture points are from the knees and elbows down plus the abdomen and back. You will be amazed. Treatment results in therapeutic healing, deep relaxation, and harmonic balance, quickly and effectively.
 

The short answer is no, the long answer is maybe. It doesn’t necessarily hurt, as much as it creates an odd sensation at the site of insertion. And if you do feel anything, it should go away as quickly as it came. The needles are very, very thin, maybe slightly larger than a coarse piece of hair. Its not at all what you would imagine and, again, treatment results in therapeutic healing, deep relaxation, and harmonic balance, quickly and effectively.
 

If you have any questions or concerns about seeking this form of medical therapy, please feel free to call us. We will do our best to provide you with information about our experience in treating your particular ailments.