Acupuncture Aftercare
After you’ve received an acupuncture treatment you may feel a little different to normal. This is almost never anything to worry about, and a few simple steps can help to lessen any discomfort you may have.
- After acupuncture treatment, patients are advised to go home and relax. Wherever possible avoid strenuous activity, alcohol, large meals, and sexual activity. Drowsiness may occur and if affected, do not drive. If any minor bleeding should occur after treatment, your practitioner will stop the bleeding before you leave the clinic. If bruising or a slight lump occurs, this is where the needle has hit some small blood vessels. It is nothing to worry about and bruising will disappear within a week, depending on your age. If this happens, please let you practitioner know at your next session.
- In the case of pain conditions, treatment is designed to relieve pain and resolve the underlying condition causing pain. The goal is to reduce severity of pain and increase the time between episodes of pain. Complete pain relief can take many sessions and depends on many factors: the severity of the pain, what is causing the pain and the length of time the painful condition has existed.
- Your practitioner has recommended a course of action based on your unique condition and presentation. To achieve optimum results for pain and all other conditions, patients are advised not to skip appointments so that the effectiveness of the treatment can be evaluated.
- Advise your practitioner if you have a pacemaker or bleeding disorder, might be pregnant or has a contagious disease. If you have a potentially serious condition that is out of your practitioner’s scope of practice, you will be referred to the emergency services or to your GP.
- Please be aware patients respond to acupuncture treatment in different ways. Some patients experience immediate relief of symptoms, some experience relief after several hours or the following day. Some patients experience increased discomfort following treatment which may last for several hours. All these responses are normal. Notify your practitioner if you have any concerns about your response to treatment.