Frequently
Asked Questions

You’ve probably had the experience of walking into a room and immediately sensing the energy in it — or meeting someone and feeling their warmth (or lack of it) before they’ve said a word. That intuitive sense of something alive and flowing? That’s close to what Qi (pronounced “chee”) is pointing to.

In East Asian medicine, Qi is simply the body’s vital energy — the force that keeps you breathing, healing, thinking, and feeling. When your Qi is flowing freely and abundantly, you feel well. When it becomes blocked, depleted, or out of balance, that’s when symptoms and illness tend to show up.

Acupuncture works by accessing specific points along the body where Qi flows most readily, gently encouraging it to move, balance, and restore itself. Think of it less like fixing something broken and more like clearing a path so your body can do what it already knows how to do — heal itself.

You don’t need to fully believe in Qi for acupuncture to work. Most patients simply notice that they feel better — and that’s a pretty good place to start.

Acupuncture works best when we give the body consistent support — especially in the beginning.

For most conditions, I recommend starting with weekly sessions so your body can build momentum and hold each treatment longer over time.

The total number of sessions depends on what you’re dealing with. Acute issues often respond quickly, with noticeable improvement in just 1–8 visits. Longer-standing or chronic conditions typically need a series of 8–12 sessions, though you can expect to feel subtle but meaningful shifts right from the start. For degenerative conditions, an ongoing maintenance plan may serve you best.

The good news? We’re always working to get you better faster. I often pair acupuncture with supportive recommendations — herbal remedies, dietary tweaks, movement, or relaxation practices — that can deepen your results and potentially shorten your overall treatment time.

Your body is incredibly intelligent — it’s constantly working to heal, regulate, and restore itself. But stress, injury, illness, and the demands of daily life can create tension that builds up in the muscles, connective tissue, nerves, and organs over time. When that tension becomes chronic, it can quietly interfere with your body’s ability to do its job.

Acupuncture works by interrupting those patterns. Using hair-thin, sterile, single-use needles, we access specific points in the body where tension tends to accumulate and energy tends to stagnate. This sends a signal to your nervous system, your muscles, your connective tissue — even your organs — that it’s safe to let go and reset.

The result? Better circulation, reduced inflammation, a calmer nervous system, and a body that’s finally free to heal the way it was designed to.

It’s not magic — it’s your own physiology doing what it’s always been capable of. Acupuncture just gives it the nudge it needs.

Most patients walk out of their appointment feeling deeply relaxed — the kind of calm that’s hard to describe but easy to notice. Some people feel pleasantly floaty or sleepy, while others leave feeling clear-headed and energized. Everyone responds a little differently, but a sense of ease and wellbeing is by far the most common experience.

The good news is that you can return to your normal day right after your session. Driving, working, exercising, and going about your usual routine are all completely fine. You don’t need to carve out any special recovery time — though if you have the luxury of a slow afternoon afterward, it’s a nice way to let the treatment settle in.

The effects of an acupuncture treatment are not always immediate. I recommend my patients check in with themselves to assess their pain level/how they are feeling 2-3 days after a treatment. In some cases it may take a week or two to see meaningful changes.

I recommend drinking plenty of water after your session and, if possible, taking a few minutes before jumping back into a busy schedule — even just a quiet moment in your car can help you carry that calm a little longer.

Licensed acupuncturists and herbalists go through a 3-4 year masters level training program involving thousands of hours of classroom study, clinical practice, supervision, and extensive study of biomedicine. Doctoral candidates undergo advanced training in specific topics and practices related to East Asian medicine and engage in research. Acupuncturists in the state of Colorado are overseen by the Department of Regulatory Agencies (DORA). National certification requires passing board exams that demonstrate high-level proficiency in acupuncture, herbal medicine prescribing, and Western biomedicine. Practitioners go through a recertification process every 4 years.

Acupuncture orients to East Asian medical theory, point location, and channel/meridian pathway. Trigger point/dry needling is a style of needling that can be effective in releasing tight muscular junctions and treating myofascial pain. It involves inserting a needle into a targeted tight location (called a “trigger point”) causing the taut muscle tissue to unwind and release. Both approaches can be effective for treating pain and I use both in my clinical practice.

It’s also important to remember that the area where the symptoms are being experienced is not always responsible for causing the pain. As an example – a patient experiencing recurring pain in the right shoulder (ruling out for major tears in the rotator cuff or AC joint separations/fractures) may get only limited relief from local trigger point/dry needling treatment because what is actually causing the pain is a different structure in the body pulling on the shoulder.

Yes, they are safe when prescribed by a licensed practitioner. The tradition of East Asian herbal medicine has been around for thousands of years. Many herbs in the pharmacopoeia are recognizable to many people in the west including ginger, goji berries, dates, ginseng, mint, and astragalus. I only prescribe herbs from companies that meet the highest standards in quality and safety, have a relationship with their growers, and do their own in-house testing for pesticides or other possible contaminants.

No. Although certain conditions may require taking herbs over a longer period of time, signs that the herbal formula is working should be apparent to both the patient and the practitioner from the beginning.

Yes — acupuncture is  safe during pregnancy and can be a wonderful source of support throughout all three trimesters.

Many pregnant patients turn to acupuncture for relief from common discomforts like nausea, fatigue, back and pelvic pain, heartburn, swelling, and sleep disruption — often finding relief when other options feel limited.

Acupuncture also offers gentle support for emotional wellbeing during what can be an intense and tender time in a woman’s life. Anxiety, mood shifts, and the stress of major life change are all things acupuncture can help ease.

Whether you’re newly pregnant or counting down the final weeks, acupuncture can be a nurturing and effective part of your prenatal care.