FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

General FAQ

The consultation normally lasts approximately 30 minutes:

  • First, I will ask you some questions about or related to your health problems.
  • Next, I will check your pulse and tongue.
  • Then a diagnosis will be made and a treatment plan will be designed for you.
  • Finally, I will explain the details of the treatments and why I recommend them to you in order to help your condition.

In order to fully understand your health problems and find out the possible reasons, I will ask questions about the following aspects:

  • Onset and progression of the disease, present symptoms and signs
  • Other conditions related to the disease
  • Feeling of warmth or cold
  • Sweating
  • Food and taste
  • Stools and urine
  • Pain
  • Sleep
  • Menstruation and leucorrhoea (female patients)
  • Eating patterns
  • Habits: smoking, drinking etc.

The treatment normally lasts at least one hour. If you have not eaten for a while, you should have some food at least 30 minutes before your treatment. Hunger during treatment can make you feel dizzy.

Wear loose fitting clothes (or bring shorts) so that the affected areas as well as your lower legs and arms can be accessed easily.

  • Traditional acupuncture and ear acupuncture (needling or ear seeds) treatments are generally given to all patients.
  • According to your health problems, electroacupuncture and cupping may also be provided.
  • For some patients who feel the cold or have pain symptoms, infrared light heating will be used to warm up certain acupuncture points.

No matter how many treatments you receive in one session, you will only be charged the written price on the website at the end.

The number of treatments will depend on the severity and duration of your health condition. Acute issues may take only 3-5 sessions while chronic cases may take more than 10 sessions. You should start to notice a difference within the first few treatments. If you don’t, or if I am not seeing the kind of results I expect, I will refer you to another medical professional.

In order to maintain the consistency of the treatment effect, I suggest having at least one session per week. You can have maximum of three treatments per week. In general, the more treatments you have in a week, the quicker you will improve your health conditions.

You can pay either by cash or card.

You can send me an email, a text or call me to cancel or change your appointment a minimum of 24 hours prior to your treatment. A full fee will be charged in your next visit if the notice is less than 24 hours.

Traditional acupuncture FAQ

Acupuncture literally means to puncture with a needle. The places where the needles are inserted are called acupuncture points, which mainly lie along the so-called meridians. Meridians are the channels in which the Qi circulate.

In traditional Chinese Medicine, Qi (气) (energy or vital force) is considered to be the material and functional basis of human beings. It flows between the body’s internal organs and superficial body tissue of the skin, muscles and tendons through meridians. As long as the Qi flows smoothly as it should, we remain healthy and able to resist illness. If there is a disturbance of its flow, e.g. too little or too much Qi or Qi is stagnated, we become ill. The acupuncture points situated along the meridians are the places where Qi is transported to the body surface and are most easy to make contact with. Inserting needles there can regulate the flow of Qi and treat the disease.

Over the past 2500 years acupuncture has been applied in a wide range of diseases and conditions in China. With its recognition by World Health Organisation (WHO) in 1970s and subsequent widespread use over the world, extensive studies have been carried out to testify its efficacy. Based on the results of controlled clinical trials, WHO published a report about the application of acupuncture in 2002. In this report, acupuncture:

  • is proved to be effective in 28 kinds of diseases, symptoms or conditions.
  • has therapeutic effect but need further proof in 63 kinds of diseases, symptoms or conditions.
  • is reported to have a therapeutic effect only in individual controlled trials but worth to try in 9 kinds of diseases, symptoms or conditions because treatments by conventional and other therapies are not yielding results.

Of course, this doesn’t mean that acupuncture treatment is ineffective in other diseases that had not been well studied by then and were therefore excluded from the report.

The majority of diseases and symptoms listed in Disease of this website have been proved to be effectively treated by acupuncture. However, as an acupuncture enthusiast, I am willing to treat other diseases that are not listed here or haven’t been well studied by Western methodologies but yet have been treated for thousands of years with Chinese Medicine. If you are suffering from a disease or condition where conventional treatments have been unsuccessful or have many adverse side effects, please make an appointment for my acupuncture treatment.

Acupuncture treatment takes effect quickly. You can feel improvement in your health problems after the first few treatments.

Moreover, acupuncture treatment is safe, non-toxic and has minimal adverse reactions. It is also very simple, convenient and has few contraindications. You can select the treatment time and frequency according to your schedule.

Acupuncture needles are very thin. You may have a slight pricking sensation when the needle is first inserted.

In order to improve the treatment effects, I sometimes need to stimulate some needles until you have a feeling of soreness, numbness or distension around the point. This feeling indicates the arrival of Qi, which is especially important in acupuncture treatment.

No. Every needle is sterile and only for single-use. Once it is used, it is properly disposed of.

Immediately after the treatment, you may occasionally have a mild sore feeling and even slight bruising in some acupuncture areas. However, the soreness typically will disappear within 24 hours.

I aim to see improvements of your health problems after each visit. Of course, the improvement levels are influenced by many factors such as the duration of your health problems, the frequency of the treatment, your age and so on.

Electroacupuncture FAQ

From a Traditional Chinese Medicine perspective, electroacupuncture stimulates the acupuncture points with a weak electric current, promoting the circulation of Qi and blood that increases the acupuncture effect.

From a Western medicine perspective, electroacupuncture works by stimulating muscles, nerves, circulation of essential substances, nutrient delivery to damaged tissues, and by removing inflammatory chemicals.

As the output voltage and current is very low, electroacupuncture treatment is very safe.

Electroacupuncture has been widely used in treating different kinds of pain, sprains, stress, muscular atrophy and dysfunctions of stomach, intestines, bladder, uterus and other internal organs.

  • First, the needles are inserted into the acupuncture points.
  • Then two electrodes are connected to two needles and then to an electroacupuncture machine.
  • Next, I will slowly increase the current. You will start to have a tingling feeling.
  • The increase in current is stopped when the tingling sensation is strong enough, but without feeling any stinging pain.

Each session lasts about 20 minutes.

Electroacupuncture is not recommended for:

  • Pregnant women
  • Patients with heart problems, especially those who have pacemakers installed.

If you have these conditions, please let me know in order to avoid any risks.

Ear acupuncture FAQ

In the 1950s the French doctor Paul Nogier discovered a reflex zone system in the ear. He found that every part of the body has a corresponding reflex point in the ear. If something is out of balance in the body, this will be reflected in the particular point of the ear. The reflex point can be sore or change colour, or can be felt as a tiny bump about the size of a grain of sand, or as a cavity. If that exact point in the ear is treated, the corresponding part of the body reacts in a positive way.

By combining his theory with Traditional Chinese Medicine knowledge, Chinese ear acupuncture is formed. The point selection and application to treat diseases are guided by Traditional Chinese Medicine principles and modern medicine such as anatomy, physiology and pathology.

According to Paul Mogier’s theory, the whole body can be reflected on the ear. If there is a problem on your body, the relative ear points will have reactions. In principle, it can be used to treat most diseases.

I usually perform ear acupuncture and traditional acupuncture at the same time in order to strengthen each treatment’s effect.

The needles used for ear acupuncture are only 0.18 mm in diameter, much thinner than those used for body acupuncture (0.25 mm in diameter). Most clients have no feeling when I insert the needles.

If you worry about the pain, I can choose ear seeds to stimulate the points. The ear seeds come from a herb and are stuck to the ear points through adhesive tape. The whole procedure is non-invasive and you will not feel any pain.

The ear acupuncture is performed after I have put needles in other parts of your body. Needles are usually in place for 25 to 30 minutes, but in cases of severe pain, needles may be left for a longer period.

  • Needling is not advisable for women during pregnancy if there is a history of miscarriage.
  • Ageing and weak patients with hypertension and arteriosclerosis should have proper rest before and after needling.

The most common ear seeds come from the flowering herb vaccaria, called Wang Bu Liu Xing in Chinese. The hard seeds are stuck to the ear points through the pre-attached adhesive tape.

Both ear acupuncture and ear seeds treat the disease by stimulating the ear points. In theory, they work the same.

Ear needling is fast but an invasive procedure. Ear seeds are non-invasive but involve your frequent pressing every day. You can continue the treatment at home by yourself through ear seeding.

You can press them 3 to 4 times each day, 30 seconds to 1 minute per seed each time.

You can remove them 3-5 days later. If there is redness, swelling or soreness due to frequent pressing, you can remove them immediately.

Cupping FAQ

Cups are normally put on the back where there are thick muscles or certain areas where pain is located. The treatment is safe.

The most common side effect is the bruising at the cupping area, which usually disappears several days later. Very occasionally small blisters may appear, but they will be re-absorbed naturally several days later.

Studies show that the suction and negative pressure provided by cupping can loosen muscles, encourage blood flow, sedate the nervous system, and strengthen the body’s resistance. Therefore, cupping is often used to treat pain syndromes, especially back and neck pain, migraines, arthritis, asthma, skin diseases such as acne, and so on.

There are two types of cupping: dry and wet. The selection of cupping type depends on your health problems.

  • For the dry type of cupping, vacuum will be created by fire inside the cup. Then the cup is immediately applied on the skin to suck the muscles upwards.
  • For the wet type, I will first sterilize the skin with iodine and then make a shallow and quick puncture with a very thin needle, followed by quickly covering the puncture area with a cup to extract a small amount of blood.

The whole treatment lasts about 15 minutes. Cups are normally left in place for 5-10 minutes.

Cupping shouldn’t be performed on:

  • Patients with skin ulcers and/or susceptible to spontaneous bleeding
  • The abdominal and sacral regions of a pregnant woman

Monday-Saturday: 10 am-6:30 pm


07942613160

info@drwusacupuncture.com

20 Ashbrooke street, Newcastle NE3 4UH

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