Determining Prognosis: How Many Treatments Will I Need?
There is an equation I use for understanding how Chinese Medicine might work for you. Sometimes called a prognosis, this is how I answer the common question; “How many acupuncture treatments will it take to effectively treat my condition?”
Like many important questions, the right answer is variable and a little complex. Here are the things to consider.
Severity of the complaint is first and foremost.
The more severe it is, the longer it will take to eliminate or transform it.
Duration of complaint: acute or chronic (more on this below) is the second biggest factor.
Is it self-limiting or ongoing?
Is this an injury (external medicine?) or is it an internal medicine issue? Some are a combination (ex.: inflammation exacerbating an external injury). The prognosis is different in each circumstance.
Do I have a Western diagnosis of the root issue?
An example of a mistaken Western diagnosis could be when you are diagnosed with a specific joint injury and I am detect a nerve root issue. It’s important to re-evaluate and treat the root, not just the branch.
(Side note: In Chinese Medicine, diagnostic standards often include far more than the terminology that explains just the diseased tissue, meaning Western diagnosis isn’t all I rely on to treat you).
Your age and general health
This is important because healthy tissues heal faster, and the older we get the harder ‘bouncing back’ gets to be.
What kind of patient are you?
Are you willing to take supplements, herbal formulas or do other prescribed therapies? Maybe you’re more the type to choose to ‘experiment’ with testing one modality at a time? One of these types of patients nearly always gets better and faster results. Can you guess which one?
Sometimes patients who don’t know what to expect unknowingly set their expectations too high. For instance, shouldn’t just one treatment cure what ails you? Sure, we have all heard of those one treatment success stories, but that is not the way it usually works. It takes work and it takes time. If you want to get better faster you may have to do some of the work. Otherwise, you may actually have to come in more often for acupuncture. I ask all my patients to try at least 4 treatments to gauge the effectiveness of acupuncture for their condition.
If you’re a patient who does all the things they are capable of doing, returning once a week should be enough to get satisfactory results. If not, coming in 2-3 times per week is more realistic. Also with newer health issues (ex: acute pain situations), more treatments per week might be more appropriate. For chronic pain, meaning over 3 months duration, consistency is the first consideration.
Now let’s discuss how long. For someone who suffered with an issue for a year before coming in for acupuncture, a solid month with multiple visits per week totaling up to 12 visits is a good starting place. Why? We’re looking about a week of treatments per month of pain to get some lasting results. Putting the work in over that shorter amount of time gains the traction necessary to get results. The severity of pain determines how many times per week you should come in. If it’s over a 5/10 in severity, start with 2-3 visits per week if you can.
If you have been living with an issue for years, you would translate that number of years into the same number of treatment months (versus weeks). Then as we discussed you would probably need multiple visits per week (depending on your level of pain). So if you have been dealing with a certain pain pattern for 9 years, that can be translated to 9 months of regular, weekly treatments to really get the results you want. Of course these are just some very general guidelines. As you can see, the math is not a perfect science and there are variables to consider, always.
Know who you are and where you stand when considering variables in the numbered section. Acupuncturists like myself want to under-promise and over-deliver. Often patients do get better faster than we calculate. That is the fun part of our medicine. Over the years I have heard a lot of patients say things like; “I don’t know if it was because of the acupuncture or if it was because I was taking the herbs and supplements, or if it was because I’ve been eating healthier. But something seems to have helped.” Ding! Ding! Ding! That’s the million dollar answer. It’s multifactorial. I may not be a one-stop-shop for all the solutions that will get you better, but I promise you if you are willing to get on track with a program, my services and expertise can make a huge difference in your healing arc.
For those who decide to just get one or two acupuncture treatments, please know that you might not have really given it a fair shot. Just as you wouldn’t expect to go to one or two yoga classes and then be flexible and fit, the same logical thinking applies with trying acupuncture. Just as all fitness practices are different, so too are acupuncturists and their styles of treatment. Sometimes you just have to shop around to find the right fit for you. Then, sometimes you just have to be patient and put in the work.
If you want a fair assessment of your case I will be happy to give you a rough prognosis based on what you tell me. Feel free to drop me a call or email and we can chat. After a couple of visits, my ability to give an accurate prognosis improves based on how you respond. In any case, hopefully this information has already been useful for you.