Frequency Rules of Thumb for Acupuncture

 How Often Should You Get Acupuncture?

The answer is, it depends.

The frequency of acupuncture visits depends on your health, the condition you want help with and how your body responds to treatment.  A common treatment plan is one or two sessions a week for 6 to 8 weeks.

For Chronic Issues:

You might need more long-term treatment, sometimes more frequent than once a week. 

You might need to continue with acupuncture treatments every month to prevent flare ups of symptom recurrence.

For Acute Issues:

You will need more frequent sessions in the beginning, and then those will taper off as your chronic symptoms get better.

You might need additional follow-up treatments as needed depending on whether or not you are no longer re-injuring or the cause has not been identified and so repeated. 

How Do We Determine the Frequency?

I look at how you are responding to the treatment, consider the usual course for the condition being treated and work with your schedule to come up with the best plan.  The goal is always to get you feeling better as soon as possible.

After a few sessions, we gauge how your body is responding and get a better sense of how often you should continue.

Some Considerations

The effect of acupuncture is cumulative. Pain relief and other symptom improvement builds up as treatment progresses.  This is something we know from research and experience in the clinic. It can sometimes be frustrating but progress is always measured and there are always more than a few techniques that can be called upon should the treatment need to be revised.

Many people find it beneficial to continue with acupuncture treatments once a month sometimes quarterly as an ongoing strategy for maintaining their good health.

The General Rule

The more extreme and acute the discomfort the more times you should get treatment in a week over a period of a month.  

The less extreme the discomfort the more likely a once a week or in mild cases sometimes once every two weeks suffices for managing the discomfort.  

As always for everything in between and in the case of ongoing well-being, a plan will be made together, you and your acupuncturist, to come up with a personalized sequence that gets you feeling better, faster within the limitations your schedule.