How Frequently Should You be Getting Acupuncture?

According to the scientific research, dosage matters when it comes to acupuncture.


According to the analyses of 17,922 patients, an international group of medical researchers reported in The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine that when it comes to utilizing acupuncture for the treatment of pain conditions, dosage really matters. Based on several different studies of various acupuncture techniques, including moxibustion and e-stim, each technique was effective at alleviating pain. However, better relief was obtained when more needles were used and when acupuncture sessions were more frequent.

One question that Del Mar acupuncture patients often ask is how often they need to receive treatments. While it’s common for many patients to come in for acupuncture once a week or less due to a busy work/life schedule, patients seeking to avoid surgery and get lifelong relief from chronic pain may need to get acupuncture more frequently for a few months. If you find that once a week acupuncture is not alleviating your pain for the entire week, you should definitely think about seeing your acupuncturist more frequently.

The next question that many patients ask when they hear this news is whether they will have to do this for the rest of their lives. Acupuncture promotes equilibrium and homeostasis in the body, and if you have been neglecting your health for a very long time or if you have a severe health condition, it will take longer to get your body back on track. You may need six months of acupuncture and an entire year of herbal therapy. When you begin to feel healthy and pain-free again, you won’t need to continue with treatment. Many patients choose to get acupuncture near Encinitas once a month as a method of maintaining wellness and preventing any flare-ups if they have a chronic condition.

Keep in mind that this meta-analysis focused on the treatment of pain with acupuncture only. Conditions that are not chronic and conditions that don’t involve a pain element may not require more needles or more frequent treatment. If you are seeking acupuncture for wellness, hormone balancing, acute nausea, a sinus infection, seasonal illness, etc., you may only need a couple of treatments and you’re well. Children tend to suffer from acute illnesses only lasting a few days, so oftentimes a child can have one acupuncture treatment and have immediate and lasting relief.

One rule of thumb for how long you will need to receive acupuncture treatments and/or herbal therapy is to think about when your condition began. If you started having knee pain six months ago, don’t expect one acupuncture treatment to “cure” it. You may require six months of consistent treatment, but you may be able to avoid knee surgery and all the complications that go with that.