Inner Court Acupuncture
What To Expect The First Session
During your initial appointment, you begin by filling out an intake form. This form asks you about what is bringing you in for treatment, your present and past health history, your lifestyle, and any symptoms you are experiencing. We then will talk in depth about the information on your intake form, and clarify your treatment priorities. Often I will take your pulses and look at your tongue, or palpate your abdomen as part of the diagnostic process. These tools allow me a window into your inner landscape. All of these steps lead me to a treatment plan that is best tailored to your individual needs.
About the Treatment Itself
Your treatment will most often involve acupuncture, but may also include other modalities, such as moxabustion (an herb that is burned to warm and nourish the area), guasha or cupping (two non-invasive methods of removing stagnation from an area and increasing tissue adaptability), massage, electro-stimulation, meditative exercises, dietary advice and assisted stretches. The acupuncture needles I use are very thin, sterile, stainless steel needles for single use only. They are disposed of as medical waste. When they are inserted, you may feel nothing or occasionally a tiny pricking sensation. When the needles are stimulated, patients will often feel a dull ache, a spreading sensation, a feeling of heaviness or warmth or of energy traveling along a pathway. Patients often experience a sense of well-being during the treatment, while they rest with the needles in place for 10-30 minutes.
How Many Treatments Are Needed?
Courses of treatment are very individual, and are based on the nature, severity and duration of the complaint, as well as the lifestyle of the patient and their compliance with self-care during treatment. Sometimes acute issues can be resolved in a few treatments, while chronic or life-long issues need regular, frequent care over a longer period, and will then transition to maintenance treatments as needed.
How To Prepare
What are your accepted forms of payment?
Cash, checks, Visa and Mastercard are the accepted forms of payment. Please feel free to call my office or email me directly for rates for first visits and follow-up treatments. I do offer a discounted rate for payment at the time of service.
Do You Accept Insurance?
At this time, I accept and bill for Regence Blue Cross Blue Shield and ODS patients directly. If you have insurance through another carrier who will pay for acupuncture care for out-of-network providers, you must pay for the services up front and I will provide you with a superbill which you can present to your carrier for reimbursement of all or part of your out-of-pocket expenses.