The approach of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM - you’ll see this abbreviation a lot) is holistic: we view the body as part of a complex web of interactions from inside to outside, including your unique environment. Everyone one is different. It would be unrealistic to describe a general visit. The same routine won’t work for everyone, however, we can give some hard facts about duration of your visit and what you can do to help your visit run smoothly.

At our clinic, an “initial visit” means you are either a first-time patient, or you have a new reason for coming in (i.e. it’s not something that we’ve already assessed). Initial visits last up to 90 minutes depending on the focus of the visit, while follow-up visits are around 60 minutes. During your intake, you will be asked about your chief complaint or the reason you are visiting, and questions about your whole system (remember that everything is connected).

What we can tell you is that you should wear some comfortable clothing. You can expect to receive treatment in multiple areas of the body: knees and elbows down to hands and feet are common, but so is an abdominal or back treatment. Please come clean and ready. This means try to avoid makeup or lotions or fragrances, because they can get in the way of needling or body work and cause irritation. It can help to remember that those so-called natural fragrances in lotions and other cosmetic items can interact with your body chemistry in surprising ways. We know that everyone is busy, and most people won’t be coming straight from home, but do what you can.

Eat something small, even if you’re having trouble eating or you just aren’t hungry. Acupuncture uses the body’s own energy, and if you aren’t eating then you don’t have the energy to spare, and that can make harder work for you. If you ate a meal within a few hours of your appointment that is good, too. Avoid coffee or tea in excess of your normal, energy drinks, or high amounts of refined sugar, because these can make your system crash before your appointment is over.

Lastly, try not to brush your tongue. You’re probably thinking, “Ew, gross!” But honestly, we have seen so many tongues that we could not be surprised by yours. In fact, in the US we’ve been told the tongue coating is the cause of halitosis, but actually the culprit is more likely what you’re eating. In TCM, the coating on your tongue is actually a strong indicator of the digestive system and other factors in TCM, so it helps us to know what it looks like. If you really must brush or scrape it off, please wait until after you’ve seen us (we promise won’t tell your friends).

To sum it up:

Expect 60-90 minutes as needed for your appointment (longer if it’s a new complaint).
Wear comfortable clothing so we can access your body points easily (shorts, tee, loose pants, …).
Avoid wearing any lotions, fragrances, make-up if possible.
Eat a little something within a few hours of your visit to help with energy.
Do not brush or scrape your tongue. We need that for our diagnostics!