Acupuncture Consistency is Key
If a Dr gave you a course of medicine and said take these pills twice a day for 14 days, would you take one a day for a few days just to see how you get on,…..probably not! .
So why would you do the same when your acupuncturist tells you to come in twice a week for three weeks.
In my opinion the main thing that determines the success of treatment is frequency. Many people come into my clinic with a predefined idea of how they will approach the treatment.
“I’ll give a one session and see how it goes”
Acupuncture may seem mystical but its not a magic cure. Ultimately it is a physical therapy just like any other.
The benefits of treatment come from the stimulus to the body caused by the needles. For balance or change to occur this stimulus needs to frequent, especially in the initial stages of treatment.
Think of it as you would exercise. Any time you do a workout its beneficial for the body. But If you want to race a marathon the only way this will be successful is if you follow a consistent plan. You may gain some fitness if you go for a single run, but if you don’t train again quite soon any fitness gains are sure to be lost. Likewise repeated application of acupuncture brings the biggest and fastest gains.
Ten treatments in five weeks will give a better result than ten given over 20 weeks.
If you have seen a practitioner for treatment of any kind and have found the progress to be slow or marginal I would hazard a guess that you didn’t go enough to do the therapy justice.
Obviously this may not always the case because some things are outside of the practitioners control. You still need to make adjustments to your life to help the healing process. Dietary changes, stress management, adequate sleep etc.
