Acupuncture Chicago

At MINTS Medical, Dr. Iftikhar Ahmad and his team offer Acupuncture treatment. Give us a call or book a free consult online to schedule an appointment.

Acupuncture Q & A

WHAT IS ACUPUNCTURE?

This treatment is a traditional Chinese practice for pain management. In this procedure, very fine needles are injected at certain pressure points of the skin. Sometimes the needles are paired with pressure, heat or mild electrical current.

WHAT IS THE PROCEDURE LIKE?

Before the procedure, the practitioner conducts an exam to examine your pain tolerance and overall health conditions. He/she will then specify you the exact region where the treatment will be performed as the acupuncture points are situated throughout the body, and sometimes the suitable points may be totally away from the source of the pain. You may be given a towel, gown or sheet if required to cover your body.

You will be asked to lie on a padded table, and the treatment will begin:

• Inserting the needles: The needles used for acupuncture are extremely fine and thin therefore inserting them does not cause a lot of pain or discomfort. The number of needles used for a typical treatment can range from five to twenty, and you may experience a slight ache or twitching pain when the needle is inserted at the right depth.
• Manipulating the needle: After the needles are inserted at the correct depth, the practitioner may twirl the needles or apply heat, or pass mild electrical pulses or pressurize them.
• Removal: Majority of the times, the needles are supposed to remain there for up to twenty minutes after which they are removed. The removal generally does not cause any discomfort.

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF ACUPUNCTURE?

This treatment is often used to soothe pain and treat certain health problems. Acupuncture has proven to be useful for curing nausea associated with pregnancy and chemotherapy. Other things that acupuncture may be able to help with include:

• Headaches
• Menstrual cramps
• Stroke rehabilitation
• Tennis elbow
• Tender muscles or soft tissue or fibromyalgia
• Back problems such as lower back pain
• Asthma or inflammation of the esophagus
• Drug withdrawal symptoms
• Dental pain
• Pain associated with labor
• Carpal tunnel syndrome or pressure on a never that may cause numbness, pain or weakness in the fingers and hand.
• Myofascial pain which is a result of spasm in the facial muscles.

WHAT ARE THE POSSIBLE SIDE EFFECTS?

While the side effects of acupuncture are rare especially if your practitioner is trained and experienced, but the side effects do exist. This procedure has relatively less side effect as compared to the alternative medicines such as pain relievers and steroids that are used to treat problems like fibromyalgia.

The minor side effects of the treatment may include:

• Pain due to the needles being injected into your skin. However, the pain goes away in a short amount of time.
• Needles may cause a little bit of bleeding
• While extremely rare but you may experience vomiting, nausea or headaches. However, they last only for as less as a day.

IS IT SAFE?

The procedure is safe as the equipment used in acupuncture is regulated by the FDA. The practitioners are required not to use a single needle more than once. All the needles that the practitioner will use are supposed to be taken out from a new sterile packet. Using sterilized needles will ensure that you get to prevent serious side effects such as hepatitis B or HIV.