Continuing with her acupuncture treatment, our patient has now had her second session.
Second Acupuncture Session
Time for my second acupuncture session, as before I was welcomed into the clinic by the helpful reception staff who double checked my details on their system and invited me to take a seat. Within minutes Steve greeted me and showed me through to the treatment room. We began with quick chat about how my knee and grip had felt after the last session, he explained that the soreness I had experienced the day after my treatment was normal and to be expected after a first acupuncture session.
We quickly ran through my medical records to check that nothing had changed and that I hadn’t began taking any prescribed medicines since my last visit, which I haven’t, and he talked me through what today’s session would entail.
The plan was to insert a few more needles this time and throughout the session Steve would manipulate the needles to stimulate the flow at Qi, benefitting the muscles.
Happy with the plan, Steve left the room while I got myself comfortable for the treatment. A few minutes later Steve re-entered the room and took my pulse so that he could monitor any changes throughout the treatment.
Using single use, sterile needles, Steve began to administer the needles to my left knee, as before I barely felt the needles as they were gently tapped into place. He added a few needles above and below my knee and one in the top of each foot. I had to apologise for the state of my toe nail polish as I had hastily painted them before work that morning and had put my socks on too quickly, the result was red nails with a coating of black fluff! Steve politely claimed he hadn’t noticed.
The foot needles did feel like little scratches as they pierced my skin but certainly didn’t cause me pain. Where I did wince was when he placed a needle between my thumb and forefinger. The left hand was fine but the right did sting, Steve said that the right side of the body tends to show signs of stress more easily and this may be why I was feeling slight pain, in fairness I had had a hectic week.
Once all of the needles were in place Steve checked my pulse again then dimmed the lighting in the room, he left me to relax as the needles were left to stimulate my muscles. A short while later Steve began to gently wiggle some of the needles which caused my muscles to tingle a little, a sign they were beginning to work.
Steve explained the channels and how they flow around the body is why he positioned the needles where he did, this explained why some of the needles were not near the part of my knee where I suffer pain from, and why my left armpit was aching a little even though there was no needles there.
Confident that the treatment was going as planned and that my muscles were reacting as they should, Steve wiggled the needles once more and left them in place a little longer before ending the session.
The removal of the needles was painless and I barely noticed that he had taken them out. One more check of my pulse and I was left to get on with my day.
The following day I suffered from several leg cramps in my left calf, something that I never suffer from. The area on my hands which had received treatment were very tender and felt bruised but nothing too unbearable. However, after the weekend both my cramps and hand soreness had stopped so I am happy that they were just short after effects from the treatment. I made a note to mention it to Steve at my next session anyway.
By mid-week I hadn’t had any of the niggles in my knee I usually have and even survived a day at work in a pair of heeled boots, shhh don’t tell Steve. But as yet I am still not able to use a tin opener, thankfully my husband is on hand to open any tins.
I have another session booked in with Steve at the end of the week where I will update him on my progress and see what the next acupuncture session will entail. I will be sure to update you on how it goes next week.
Acupuncture Patient – Newcastle Sports Injury Clinic