New Patients
Acupuncture care begins with a careful conversation, a Traditional Chinese Medicine assessment, and a physiologically informed view of how your symptoms behave across the body.
How Care Begins
Many people come to acupuncture after trying several approaches already. Some have chronic pain, neuropathy, migraines, digestive symptoms, hormonal concerns, stress physiology, sleep disruption, or inflammatory patterns. Others simply want a clinician who can think carefully across body systems.
The first visit is structured to understand what you are experiencing, what has already been ruled in or out, what makes symptoms better or worse, and how acupuncture may fit into your broader care plan.
This clinic uses Traditional Chinese Medicine as the foundation while also considering anatomy, peripheral nerves, segmental relationships, autonomic regulation, and contemporary framework when clinically relevant.
First Visit
Your first appointment is more than “placing needles.” It is an evaluation and treatment session designed to clarify your goals, your clinical context, and the safest, most appropriate way to begin care.
We review your main concerns, medical history, medications, imaging or lab findings when relevant, past treatments, sleep, digestion, stress, activity level, and symptom triggers.
Traditional assessment may include pulse, tongue, channel palpation, symptom patterning, and questions about temperature, energy, appetite, elimination, mood, and sleep.
When appropriate, we consider movement, sensitivity, pain distribution, nerve relationships, autonomic signs, and how symptoms connect across body regions.
Your first treatment is selected based on comfort, safety, goals, and presentation. It may include acupuncture alone or supportive modalities such as gentle stimulation or heat therapy.
Assessment Style
A integrative acupuncture visit looks for patterns that are meaningful both traditionally and physiologically. The emphasis is on clinical reasoning, not one-size-fits-all protocols.
Where symptoms are located, when they appear, what changes them, and whether they follow musculoskeletal, neurological, visceral, hormonal, or stress-related patterns.
Traditional diagnostic patterns help organize complex symptoms into treatment priorities such as deficiency, stagnation, heat, cold, dampness, blood stasis, or organ-system imbalance.
Many chronic symptoms involve sensitivity, threat response, autonomic tone, sleep disruption, stress physiology, or altered sensory processing. These factors shape treatment intensity.
When useful, symptoms are considered through spinal segments, dermatomes, myotomes, peripheral nerves, and reflex relationships between the body surface and deeper systems.
Care includes screening for red flags, medication considerations, pregnancy considerations, infection risk, worsening neurological signs, and situations that require medical referral.
The plan is adjusted to your sensitivity, goals, diagnosis, response to treatment, and whether acupuncture should be supportive, rehabilitative, regulatory, or symptom-focused.
Before Your Visit
A little preparation helps make the first visit smoother and gives us a better clinical picture.
Bring or upload current medications, major diagnoses, imaging reports, lab results, surgeries, allergies, and any recent changes in symptoms.
Please wear loose, flexible clothing that allows access to areas such as the arms, legs, abdomen, back, hips, and shoulders as needed for treatment. Shorts or loose pants are helpful. Sports bras may limit access to the upper back and shoulders, but appropriate draping will always be provided for comfort and privacy.
Avoid arriving on an empty stomach. A light meal or snack beforehand can reduce the chance of feeling faint or depleted.
You do not need perfect answers. It helps to know what would count as meaningful progress: less pain, better sleep, fewer flares, calmer digestion, or improved function.
Tell us about needle sensitivity, fainting history, pregnancy, bleeding disorders, pacemakers, seizure history, trauma history, or anything that affects comfort and safety.
Many patients feel relaxed after treatment. When possible, avoid rushing directly into stressful errands or intense exercise after your first visit.
Treatment Planning
Treatment plans are individualized. The objective is to set appropriate expectations while giving the body enough consistency to respond.
Acute, severe, or highly reactive symptoms may require a different rhythm than long-standing maintenance care or wellness-oriented support.
We look at changes in intensity, frequency, duration, function, sleep, digestion, stress response, and symptom recovery time after treatment.
Manual acupuncture, neurofunctional strategies, scalp acupuncture, electroacupuncture, moxibustion, or gentle approaches may be used depending on the person and presentation.
Acupuncture is recommended to be used alongside conventional medical care. It does not replace emergency care, appropriate medical diagnosis, medication management, or care from a medical doctor. We welcome the opportunity to collaborate with your physicians by informing them of our clinical objectives, progress, etc.
Practical Details
Appointment length: Initial visits typically last anywhere from 60 to 90 minutes depending on length of intake.
Pricing: Initial Visit: $185. Follow Up Visits: $90. Payment Accepted: Credit, Debit, HSA, Check. Financial Concerns? We are currently able to accept 2 candidates a month who have limited access to healthcare to treat at a significantly reduced rate. To apply for the waitlist or suggest a patient please fill out our contact us form here.
Insurance: Our practice has elected to not work directly with insurance companies as it greatly limits our ability to deliver tailored treatment plans that speak to the unique needs of our patients. If your insurance covers out of network acupuncture services, they may cover all or a portion of services from Anjou Acupuncture. Our administrative staff can provide you with specialized bills called “Superbills” that include diagnostic codes and associated practitioner information required for insurance reimbursement.
Forms: After booking your appointment you will be automatically emailed our comprehensive intake, informed consent for treatment, and privacy practice forms. We ask that you fill them out prior to your first appointment to ensure we stay on time on the day of your visit.
Facilities: Our office is located in a medical park with a parking lot, handicap accessibility, and shared entrance.
Common Questions
Most patients describe acupuncture as minimal, dull, heavy, warm, tingling, or relaxing rather than painful. Treatment intensity can be adjusted.
You do not need a referral or medical diagnosis to begin receiving acupuncture treatment. That being said, we are required by law to have medical diagnosis documentation from your physician on file within 60 days of your initial visit. This could be something as simple as a doctor’s note stating what they have been treating you for. At all times we encourage a strong collaboration with your primary care team to ensure the best clinical outcomes.
Yes. Acupuncture is commonly used alongside medical care. Please keep your prescribing clinicians informed and do not stop medication without medical guidance.
That depends on the condition, chronicity, severity, overall health, and how you respond. The first few visits help establish whether the approach is a good fit.
Tell us before treatment. Gentle needling, fewer points, non-electrical approaches, shorter retention, or other supportive methods may be used.
Only if clinically appropriate and safe for you. Some patients are better suited for gentle manual acupuncture, especially at the beginning of care.