Your First Acupuncture Visit
Take the Mystery and Anxiety Out of Your First Visit

In this section, you’ll learn what kind of information about you and your health that your acu-pro needs in order to figure out how to help you. Knowing what to expect takes most of the mystery and anxiety out of your first visit, so that you can concentrate on your health. Afterwards, you’ll feel great and wonder what all the fuss was about.

Looking:  Mirror, Mirror on the Wall

The first thing your acu-pro will do is look at your general appearance and vitality. Are you a vibrant, assertive person with plenty of outward energy, or do you come across as weak and frail? These are the first general observations that he or she will make. Your body type may also be noted. If you are overweight, you’re more likely to be affected by illnesses stemming from disorders of dampness, while being too thin means you might be prone to imbalances of yin or yang energies.

We will also observe your posture, skin tone, and texture of your face. If you have a chalky, bloated face, can often mean that your Qi (life energy) is low most likely stemming from poor digestion. A black or dark color under the eyes points to a deficiency in kidney energy, either in the organ itself or somewhere along the pathways of its related energy channels. It’s worth mentioning that channels and organs often share the same name, which points to their interconnectedness. In Oriental Medical terminology kidney energy may refer to the channel of Qi that runs along the kidney channel or meridian as well as the energy in the kidney organ itself. Checking the context of the sentence should clear it up. Your acupro will most likely be discussing the channel they are working on and not the organ. If there’s any confusion, just ask.

Wall Tongue Diagnosis: Open Wide and Say "Aaah"

The tongue is an important part of oriental medical diagnosis. The tongue is connected to many of the qi channels and reflects the organs that the channels pass through. Take a minute and go to your bathroom mirror and stick out your tongue. Notice the size, shape, color of your tongue, and remember to look at the fuzzy layer on top. Also look for any cracks or bumps along the sides, tip, or surface of the tongue. A normal tongue should to be pinkish, with a slight thin white coating that has no bumps or teeth marks along the sides. It may make us sound like we’re fortune-tellers, but this is a sophisticated medical system that acupuncturists have been using clinically for thousands of years.

A tongue with a thin red tip usually indicates two things. One, it could be a pizza burn. The second and more likely possibility is that you’re experiencing a great deal of anxiety or some emotional burden. A red tip suggests that the emotions have gotten stuck and could be affecting your body and mind with repetitive thoughts, insomnia, or dream-disturbed sleep. It’s a good idea to take a look at your tongue periodically. Your tongue reflects the state of health in general and specific ways. It will begin to change even with the onset of a cold. Your acu-pro will share his or her observation with you so you can keep an eye on things yourself.

Your Pulse: Feel the Beat

Your conventional physician checks your heart rate by taking your pulse. By pressing on the radial artery located where the wrist meets your hand, he or she can determine the number of times per minute your heart beats. In Oriental Medicine, your pulse gives clues to the condition of the channels that run over your body and your corresponding organs. Although each channel has its own pulse points located on the body, the three pulse positions located on each wrist are traditionally the principle sites for pulse diagnosis. Your acu-pro must feel and distinguish between three pulse positions with three depths to each position. Right now, as you are reading, place one of your wrists in the palm of one of the other hand. Let’s begin your first pulse-reading exercise.

A slow, short, weak, slippery middle pulse (on the right hand) often indicates trapped cold in your body with insufficient qi in the digestive system. A slippery quality, which feels like a thick liquid squishing under your fingertips, indicates that dampness has interrupted the smooth flow of qi in your stomach, and you may have a sluggish digestion, excess mucus, and/or heaviness of limbs. All this from your pulse? See your acu-pro and find out even more that lies behind the beating of your pulse.

Listening and Asking: The Hidden Arts

An old adage states that you were given two ears and one mouth so you could listen twice as much. The truth of that statement is even more ringing in Oriental Medicine. Your practitioner will certainly take a thorough medical history from you; cover your symptoms, and want to know your preferences for hot or cold drinks and food desires. Sounds like he or she is preparing the perfect meal for you! In reality, however, your acu-pro wants to understand how you experience health and illness. Everything from how you digest food to your sleeping patterns gives more information and proper perspective to your condition.

Your practitioner must also listen. He or she will focus on your speech and breathing patterns and listen to your cough or wheeze. A cough that gurgles is due to phlegm or dampness, while a dry hacking couch relates to dry heat trapped in the lungs. These sounds are helpful information your practitioner uses to compile an oriental medical diagnosis and create a successful treatment plan, which is very important because the practitioner will treat these conditions very differently.

Smelling: Pass the Perfume

The nose may know a thing or two. Excessive heat conditions in the lungs, stomach, or bowels produce very foul breath or body odors. Excessive cold illnesses have a distinctive rotten fish smell. Hmmm, just what I like to experience right after lunch! I have often heard patients say they can smell when they are getting sick. Different odors are associated with specific organ systems, and often patients’ individual odors vanish as their health improves.

Today, perfumes and deodorant soaps cover up many of these significant odors that a few centuries ago would be obvious to anyone within whiffing distance! So a strong smell that reaches out to you is usually significant to the condition. Your practitioner will keep up his or her snoopy sniffing; after all, the nose knows!

Physical Exam

Another part of your initial visit will be for your acu-pro to closely examine the condition of your channels, points, muscles, and joints. Soreness of acu-points and channels can generate helpful information about the corresponding muscles or organ systems that the channel crosses. Soreness of this point and channel represent the muscles and tendons on the inside of the leg, but can also detect imbalances in the lower abdomen. This might be particularly sore if you were experiencing difficulties with constipation, PMS, chronic bladder infections, or bloating.

If your main complaints include a muscular-skeletal problem, such as bursitis in your shoulder or back pain, expect to have pressure sensitivity on those muscles and joints evaluated and written down. Other physical examinations, such as range of motion, may be performed to see if your natural movement is restricted in any way.

Your acu-pro is trained to understand the relationship between the nerves, muscles, tendons, and ligaments in your body. A thorough exam will help both of you judge the progress of future treatments.

Abdomen: The Bounty of the Belly

You may have had your abdomen, the area below your ribs and above the pubic bone, checked by your physician when you were pregnant or if you complained of stomach or bowel problems. To your acu-pro, however, the abdomen holds a bounty of information about your current state of health. Many of your qi channels cross over your belly, and gentle pressure applied to specific areas will help confirm your practitioner’s thoughts about your condition.