Patients usually keep their clothes on during treatment. Please wear comfortable and loose fitting clothing if possible so we may reach the acupuncture points below the elbows and knees. It is sometimes necessary to treat a patient’s back. If so, we will carefully screen you while you undress and fully drape your body.
Treatment will be most effective and you will be more comfortable if you:
• Eat something within a few hours of your appointment
• Avoid excessive caffeinated beverages before treatment
• Use the bathroom before finding your treatment area
• Plan to move slowly for several hours after treatment (high intensity work-outs, meetings, etc. are best done at another time)
If possible, leave time open to rest, nap, or take a walk after your session to allow the treatment to integrate into your system.
Initial Visit
As you come up the stairs, turn to the right to reach our clinic in Suite 202. Please come in and make yourself comfortable in one of the chairs near the front desk. If you need to complete paperwork, please arrive 15 minutes before your appointment. The forms will be available for you on a clipboard at the front desk. To expedite your treatment, please download and complete the Health History Intake Form prior to your visit and bring them with you.
HealthHistory
Return Visits
For return visits, please come in and make yourself comfortable at a table or recliner chair of your choice. Gather the blankets, bolsters, and whatever else you need to be ready for treatment. Remove shoes, socks, bracelets, watches, etc, as acupuncturists love the powerful points on the feet and hands! Take a moment to lie back and relax. Your practitioner will be right with you.
Your Treatment
Your practitioner will come and ask you for details on your response to the last treatment or how you have been since your last visit. She or he may feel your pulse and look at your tongue, diagnostic tools for Oriental medicine. Appropriate acupuncture points will be selected and carefully needled.
We use only sterile, disposable acupuncture needles. We use them only once and then safely dispose of them so there is never any chance of infection. We use very thin needles and careful insertion technique so the treatment is not painful. When the needle is inserted you may feel nothing or the slight sensation like a mosquito bite. With the needles in, it is common to feel either a mild dull achy feeling or nothing.
Bodywork, cupping, electro-stimulation, or moxibustion may be used, if indicated. Most patients get very relaxed with treatment and many fall asleep. This is your time. Bring your awareness inward, focus on your breathe in the area below the navel, and allow yourself to completely relax.
A session usually lasts about 45-60 minutes, but it could be more or less according to your needs. Please advise us if there is a specific time you need to leave the clinic. We will track the time so you don’t have to.
At Boulder Community Acupuncture, your practitioner is always nearby and wants to hear from you if you are uncomfortable or if you need anything. When you feel your awareness return more to the outer environment, please call your practitioner who will come to remove the needles. You may now gather your things as the treatment is finished. If you need to pay and/or make another appointment, please meet your practitioner at the reception desk.
