Is acupuncture painful?

The idea of volunteering yourself to be pricked by little needles might seem ludicrous…. Understandably one misconception about acupuncture is that it hurts, and can turn needle-phobic folks off acupuncture. T

The good news is, acupuncture isn’t meant to be painful, the needles we use are 0.10-0.25 mm thick, similar to a strand of hair. Now let me put that in perspective, when you get your blood taken at the doctors they use 1.0 mm needles, that’s right 5-10 X bigger than acupuncture needles.

When we insert needles into various parts of the body you may feel different sensations, sensations being they key word here. You may feel a sense of heaviness at the point, there might be some tingling, itching or it may get warm. You may feel nothing at all.

Japanese style acupuncture takes into consideration the constitution of the patient, how robust or sensitive they may be and adjust the treatment accordingly. Someone who has a more sensitive constitution only needs very gentle stimulation to get results. Whereas a robust person may need more sensation and stimulation to create change.