Picture a spa-like setting with you sitting on a wave massage chair. Hanging fabrics to either side partition you from others. As soothing music plays, you sip complimentary green tea and focus on the beautiful, natural vistas projected on the large monitor overhead. You relax. Your much-needed 30 minutes of healing has begun.
Welcome to Modern Acupuncture, a new concept in providing the health benefits of an ancient therapy. Originating in Scottsdale, Arizona, in 2017, Modern Acupuncture plans to have some 150 locations by 2020. The first Middle Tennessee location opened in spring 2018 on Mallory Lane in Brentwood. It's open seven days a week and walk-ins are welcome. The only caveat is the location is not set up to treat children under 6.
People may have been skeptical about acupuncture due to lack of exposure and understanding of benefits.
As the national debate regarding opioid abuse has been brought to the forefront, primary care doctors and specialists are starting to point patients to alternative options to manage pain and inflammation.
Such factors have created a place and space for acupuncture to grow in the health-care system.
It was no wonder interest was high when Modern Acupuncture opened its doors in Cool Springs, with 700 people responding to initial advertising.
At Modern Acupuncture, you are seen by a licensed, board-certified practitioner. In the United States, a trained acupuncturist has an M.A. or Ph.D. level of training, gaining a diploma of acupuncture or oriental medicine.
Acupuncture education includes two years of medical school classes and two years of hands-on clinical practice.
And what about the needles? Does it hurt? Do I have to get undressed? What can acupuncture treat? How do you know what I need to be treated? How many treatments do I need? How long does it take?
By the time you sit down for your first session, you’ll have watched an introductory video about what to expect at the initial 45-minute session and subsequent 30-minute sessions.
The acupuncturist will do a thorough assessment of your symptoms through questioning, observation and other diagnostics, noting breathing, heart rate and blood pressure.
If someone comes in with bursitis, i.e., inflammation of the fluid sacs of the joint, the acupuncturist will utilize tiny needles to access distinct points on the body (without removal of clothes, as in a traditional session) to treat acute pain, restore balance in the lymphatic system, increase circulation and treat inflammation.
The acupuncturist will design a personal treatment plan—it may take four to six sessions or longer—to alleviate underlying causes, which could be arthritis.
And, now, for the elephant in the room: needles.
If you’re worried about needles, clinical director Rachelle Smith assures us that an acupuncture needle is extremely thin, smaller than a single piece of hair—it’s not like a hypodermic needle—and you may or may not feel the needle going in.
Once the needle has been placed, it feels more like a tingling or aching sensation. Many patients fall asleep during treatments.
Most people come in to get help with stress and anxiety, sleep issues, digestion and headaches.
More recently, cosmetic acupuncture, like “glow from the inside out” treatments, has become popular.
People are turning to acupuncture as an all-natural alternative to Botox in their health and beauty regimes.
Targeted needles boost the body’s own healing, getting blood, oxygen and nutrients to the face, stimulating the production of collagen.
Over time, people see a reduction of fine lines and wrinkles, a lifting and toning of facial muscles, and correction of texture and color imbalances.
Now that you’re curious and interested, what do you have to lose?
You only have health benefits to gain.
