Like asking someone to stick needles in you and paying them for the privilege.
I'd always been a bit curious about acupuncture but am a bit of a needle-phobe and it was always too expensive to just "give it a go". Finally a living social deal came up for an acupuncture session at Creative Hands Massage so I decided to jump on it.
I'll focus mostly on the session as opposed to my review of the space. There are some negative reviews on Yelp which I didn't have any similar issues with but it sounds like it's something I should investigate if I'm going to return for my follow up appointment.
I arrived about 20 minutes early (as is spa courtesy, especially for a first time appointment at an unfamiliar place) and accidentally came in the back door. (Har de har har.) The space is actually in an alley way and a bit tough to find. I opened the door to the studio (which I only knew was the right door because of the recycling bin labeled "CHMassage" by the door. I interrupted the receptionist (who was very sweet) on her lunch break. She led me to the front and had me start filling out the intake form. I met the owner briefly who was apparently working on something for the website. She seemed a bit stressed out but was nice overall.
The intake form was 4 pages long or so. It asked how much water I drink, what color is my tongue, how often I poop and all sorts of other questions. I filled everything out as best I could then was escorted to my room to hang out and wait for my acupuncturist. Zinnia (sp?) showed up with her chakra stone necklace in tow and checked over my intake form and promptly told me we wouldn't be using this one.
"So what hurts?"
"Umm, well nothing really..."
"Well then what do you hope to accomplish with the session?"
"Well honestly I'm a massage therapist and have just always wanted to try this and I got a good deal on the session today so I thought why not...umm I do have tight hamstrings though."
"Alright, we can work with that."
She then asked me all the questions I'd already filled out on the form and we chatted a little bit. I showed her my squat (she also studied Alexander Technique so that's helpful) and we got to work. She decided to focus on my bladder meridian which apparently runs down the center of the back of the leg.
She asked me to take my shorts off and then just sorta hung around. I thought she was going to leave and then come back but she just stood there so I took them off right in front of her (which was a bit awkward but I'm not terribly shy) and got on the table. She started putting the needles in and everyone has asked "what does it feel like?"
Well it feels like a needle going into your leg.
It's not comfortable.
It's not relaxing like a massage.
I don't know how I expected it to be anything like that. I don't know what I expected it to be like but what you *should* expect it to be like is like a needle going into your leg.
That being said it didn't hurt TOO much but it's not comfortable.
So the needles start going in on the bladder meridian and I feel a couple of pulse-like sensations but nothing terribly crazy. A bit pinchy and pokey but overall nothing too out of the ordinary. No overhwhelming sense of relaxation or release. No super painful pokes. Just sorta run of the mill needles in the leg sensations.
Then she said "Let's try some of the Gall Bladder meridian, it's right here along your IT band"
*poke*
"Whoa....what is that?!"
This time I felt something big. The needle went in to my GB Meridian and it felt like a rush of water from my hip to my knee converging on the spot about 3/4 up my thigh. The spot pulsated for a couple of minutes and I had a pretty strong response to all the remaining GB meridian needles.
"This must be your meridian."
"What does that mean?"
"It's the meridian of creativity and vision..."
Well...sure that sounds nice but I still don't really know what it means.
After putting 10 needles in each leg she said "Now you relax for a bit" and left the room.
She left with no music playing and no time frame for when she'd return so I started trying to zen out a bit. (I also snuck a peak of my legs just to see the needles sticking out and it wasn't as terrifying as I anticipated.)
I'm a bit of an antsy person. I move around a lot. I toss and turn before I fall asleep and my mom always called me a "wallerer" (which is apparently a southern term that not everyone understands...think of someone rolling around on the floor mainly for the tactile stimulation they get from rolling around...or a cat doing lots of slow stretches just because...that's what it means to waller). This just means I can't stay still for too long unless I'm totally asleep or totally blissed out. Needles in the leg = not totally blissed out.
I tried to just chill on the table but the urge to move even just a tiny bit kept sneaking up. I had no idea how long I was going to be on the table and that uncertainly just made it worse. I kept wanting to roll over but could barely move without the needles changing position and pinching a bit. Finally after what felt like about half an hour she came back to take all the needles out. I got off the table and she had me do another squat. She said it looked better but I couldn't really tell much difference. We scheduled an appointment not with her but with another acupuncturist 6 weeks from today. I tried to tip her (whoops) and was told "This is a medical procedure, there's no tip." Hopefully I didn't piss her off...I didn't know the etiquette.
The owner told me it varies from acupuncturist to acupuncturist...some that she had would take tips and others refuse them. So now I have zero standard and run the risk of looking like a cheap bastard or a trashy douche anytime I go to a new person. Maybe I'll just ask on the phone.
For a couple of hours after my right calf was pretty sore...as if I'd just gotten a much deeper shot in the middle of the muscle belly. It went away the next day and I had a training session. Apparently I looked a lot more flexible to my trainer and my hamstrings were "pretty impressive" as far as flexibility goes. My squats were better, my caterpillars were better and my overall range of motion improved. Now was this due to acupuncture or the fact that my body is just getting better at the moves now that I've been doing them pretty consistently? Not entirely sure.
Overall reaction is I'm going to keep my 6 week appointment (as long as nothing more fun comes up) and see if it helps more with a stronger focus on the Gall Bladder meridian. The rates at the clinic are pretty cheap so it's wroth it at least to experiment. I'll update when the time comes.
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