Although Traditional Chinese Medicine(TCM) and acupuncture have been accepted by more and more people, we have to recognize that the quality of Chinese medicine practitioner varies greatly. If you choose the wrong one, losing money is not the only matter, losing your health would be the worse effect.
For a person who does not know much about TCM, it is not easy to judge whether a TCM practitioner is good or bad. Just some traditional Chinese terms, such as Yin and Yang, Five Elements, are enough to confuse most of the people. Therefore, I would like to introduce a few points here, hoping to help you to find out your right Traditional Chinese Acupuncturist.
Before the Treatment
Before the treatment, the acupuncturist must give you a consultation about your diet, bowel movement, sleep and even your emotions. After the fully communication, your practitioner can get a preliminary understanding of your physical conditions. In order to select the appropriate acupuncture points for treatment, the acupuncturist also need to identify the abnormal meridians by checking your pulse. So the pulse reading can not to be left out for a Chinese Medical treatment. The practitioner also has to check both hands in not less than one minute on each hand. If your acupuncturist doesn't feel the pulse before the needles are applied, or if he/she check the pulse for less than a minute, you should think about changing your practitioner to a different one.
Of course, there are some Chinese Medicine doctors who can judge a person's condition without feeling the pulse. But these doctors are now much rarer than giant pandas. You would be the most lucky people on the world if you meet one.
During the treatment
Even facing the same patient, different acupuncturists tend to use different acupoints for their treatments. The meridians in the body are not separate lines. They are network- circulation structures that connect end to end. Therefore, a disease can have several meridians associated with it and an acupuncturist may choose acupoints on different meridians to treat the same problems. However, for a good acupuncturist, no matter how he/she choose the acupoints, he/she should not only choose those near the area of illness. The acupoints with good therapeutic effect are often far away from the ill area. Moreover, the acupuncturist usually do not choose the exact same acupoints for each treatment. That is because the body's energy(Qi) is constantly moving and changing, and the acupuncturist who often choose different acupoints for each treatment according to the patients' different state can achieve better results.
In addition, during the treatment, although the sensation of acupuncture varies from person to person, the general feelings should include : soreness, numbness, distension. Under the treatment of an experienced acupuncturist, the patient may have the sensation of numbness, distention and electrical conduction, but usually should not feel very painful. When being treated by a less skilled acupuncturist, patients often feel very painful , while the other feelings are less noticeable, and the treatment in this situation may not be effective.
After the treatment
Most patients may feel tired, sleepy, thirsty and may have rapid gastrointestinal motility after the acupuncture treatment. For some patients, even the needles have been pulled out, some sensations like soreness, numbness and tingling may continue for a period of time. It could be several hours and days. These are normal and indicate that the body responds well to acupuncture stimulation. But if you have very strong feelings or feel very sick after the treatment, there must be something wrong with your treatment.
Surely enough that effectiveness is the most important criteria for choosing the right acupuncturist. If you can not see any difference after a few sessions of treatment, it is the time for you to find out another acupuncturist.