People ask me all the time: “how often should I come for acupuncture?” In the past, my standard response has been “whatever your schedule and your pocket book will allow”, but I’m changing that response to something like - “it depends on what kind of results you are looking for”.

When I’m getting regular acupuncture, I feel great and I’m better able to roll with whatever comes my way. By regular acupuncture, I mean once a week; although I have been known to see my acupuncturist multiple times in a week when I have something specific I’m working through. If you are using acupuncture for wellness, self-care, or to relax, once every week or two can be enough, but anytime you are trying to address an illness or specific condition, it's much more effective to up the frequency to a couple times a week or every other day. In fact, when addressing illness, a traditional course of treatment includes 10 acupuncture sessions administered one of two ways - either every other day, or everyday for several days followed by a few days off and another round of daily treatments until the entire course is completed; in some cases with deeply entrenched patterns another whole course of treatments may be necessary.

Think of it like this: broadly speaking, acupuncture nudges the body toward health by encouraging the restoration of homeostasis and proper circulation while reducing inflammation (a disturbance of homeostasis is a component of all disease and nearly all diseases involve inflammation). One acupuncture treatment can have a notable impact, but things tend to revert back to old patterns after a day or two. After the initial push towards balance, it is best to give a second push before the first has completely worn off to build a cumulative effect.

But what if you can only come once a week due to schedule conflicts? Even if you wait between session and symptoms begin to return after a couple of days, there will be some internal momentum moving you in the direction you need to go; you just don’t move forward as quickly. By coming more frequently, you can move through issue more quickly, but if you can only come once a week, you still get results - it just takes longer.

I’d like to do whatever I can to make more frequent visits accessible by making myself available for more hours in the day by special appointment and by making my session more affordable through package pricing and sliding scale. When you come in for more frequent treatments, we can get you in and out more quickly by keeping the consult simple. So, don’t hesitate to let me know how you’d like to approach your treatments - slow and steady or right to the point (pun intended)!

Be well,
Rebecca

Consider this perspective from Subhuti Dharmananda, Ph.D., Director, Institute for Traditional Medicine, Portland, Oregon.

"The ideal frequency for acupuncture therapy (assuming both patients and practitioners have the option to adjust to it) depends on one's concept of the function of acupuncture therapy. Consider a few examples of other therapies. Would you -

take nutritional supplements (such as a vitamin/mineral) once per week or once per day?
take a course of antibiotics, one dose per week for ten weeks or one dose per day for ten days?
take a decongestant once per week during allergy season, or every day during allergy season?
undertake exercise, 20-30 minutes once per week, or 20-30 minutes at least five days per week?
take an herb decoction or other herb preparation once per week, or every day?
get a good night's sleep once per week, or every night?
eat healthy foods once per week or every day (or most days)?"

Read the whole article here: http://www.itmonline.org/arts/restructure.htm