FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
WHAT KINDS OF THINGS CAN YOU TREAT?
We can treat all kinds of things, but a better way to answer this may be to tell you what we have spent the last few years helping folks manage. In no particular order: Back pain, anxiety, depression, insomnia, writer’s block, neck pain, shoulder pain (all the pains), IBS/IBD, heartbreak, Crohn’s, painful/irregular periods, PMS/PMDD, migraines, rage, jaw pain, resentment of The Man, neuropathy, numbness (of both body and mind) Climate anxiety, constipation, fatigue, the bony fingers of capitalism clutching your throat, nightmares, night sweats, fibromyalgia, GERD, dysautonomia, burnout, restlessness, intrusive thoughts, vertigo, the wistfulness that comes from knowing the world could be better The eye strain, indigestion, and fragmentation that come from living tethered to a tiny, angry screen Fertility concerns, tendonitis, hot flashes, the bittersweet exhaustion of caring, smoking cessation, PCOS, existential nausea, regular nausea, allergies, bladder pain, urinary urgency, just urgency in general, what’s the rush?, carpal tunnel syndrome, morning sickness, the absurdity of existence, sciatica and back pain
HoW iS coMMuniTy acuPuncTuRe DiFFeRenT FRoM, uH...
ReGuLaR acuPuncTuRe?
It isn’t! In fact, for much of history and in much of the world, acupuncture has been delivered communally. In China, especially in traditional hospitals and outpatient clinics, it is very normal to receive acupuncture in a shared space. Acupuncture is just one branch of Chinese medicine and is often considered the first line of defense against illness or injury. It is usually administered promptly and frequently— this is how it works best. The one-on-one, once-in-a-while method that most practitioners in the US have adopted is a modern riff, modeled on treatment structures more familiar to us, like psychotherapy sessions or bodywork. However, unlike psychotherapy or bodywork, acupuncture doesn’t require that your practitioner sit with you for the duration of treatment. In fact, it would be weird if we did. We walk away and allow you the space to find a restful state while the needles— and your body— do their thing. When you see an acupuncturist in a one-on-one setting, they will leave you alone to rest as well, usually while attending to another patient in another room.
MY BACK HURTS. HOW ARE YOU GOING TO TREAT MY PAIN WITHOUT PUTTING NEEDLES IN MY BACK?
Community acupuncturists use a handful of traditional styles that de-emphasize direct stimulation of a painful area. We love it for its simplicity, its elegance, and the fact that no one has to disrobe. Most of all, we love it because it works. We call it distal acupuncture, distal meaning “away from the center”. It’s hard to explain any further without several years’ worth of context and a lot of visual aids. I’m not going to try. A more memorable description of this principle comes from Dr. Richard Tan, the man most famous for teaching this style of acupuncture in the West: “You don’t slap a crying baby”. Don’t stimulate the body where it is overstimulated. Don’t poke it where it hurts. Pain isn’t that simple anyway. Distract it, cajole it, coax it into lowering its hackles. Don’t worry about why we put the needles where we put them. That’s our job.
AM I MISSING OUT ON SOMETHING CRUCIAL BECAUSE YOU’RE NOT PUTTING NEEDLES IN MY BACK OR ABDOMEN?
If we thought so, we wouldn’t do it this way. In acupuncture logic—the way we conceptualize the body and the anima coursing through it—it is at the extremities that our energy surges closest to the surface, becoming both most volatile and most accessible. An effective treatment is framed and defined by those points. Points on the belly and the back are nice. They have many classical indications. They also satisfy the most literal part of our brains—the part that craves neat, tidy analogues and believes more is always better. But even if we had you undress completely and lie on a crinkly table, covered head-to-toe in needles, that treatment would still be driven by a handful of powerhouse points on the forearms and legs. And you’d be cold.
HoW DOES ACUPUNCTURE WORK?
That’s a fascinating conversation. It’s a tap-dance on a tightrope between cultural understandings of what’s a body, what’s a mind, what’s a spirit, what we know, and how we think we know it. It’s about causation, intuition, and pattern recognition. It’s about signaling proteins— and the mice that don’t have them. t’s about how our interior worlds reconcile with outside reality, continuously re-writing, re-framing and re-indexing lived experience. It’s about how answers are built on the framework of the questions they beg. It’s even about a homunculus. But as much fun as that conversation is (it’s so fun!), there is no simple answer. I have never met anyone who can break it down in five minutes, Richard Feynman-style. Least of all me. Thankfully, we don’t need to bake this pie from scratch. We don’t need to invent the universe. (Yes, I know I'm mixing physicists.) Acupuncture is a tool— I don’t know exactly how it works, but I know how to use it.
HOW FAST DOES IT WORK? HOW MANY TIMES WILL I NEED TO COME IN?
Depends. For something acute, but minor— like sinus pain or a stiff neck— relief can be immediate. But very few people come in with one singular, standalone complaint. And in most cases, acupuncture is a process. It affects us all differently, not just as individuals, but even from session to session. Healing is famously nonlinear. For meaningful relief from intense pain or suffering that is significantly disrupting your life, consider treatment at least twice a week for two or three weeks, followed by weekly sessions for a couple of months in the post-acute phase. For the chronic conditions we see most— migraines, back pain, anxiety, depression, sleep disruption, painful periods, IBS— once a week can be effective, but allow yourself a few months of treatment before you judge its efficacy. There are a lot of moving parts. We are the moving parts. I would not expect complete resolution of symptoms in a couple of months. But a couple of months of consistent treatment will give you a snapshot of what acupuncture can do for you, specifically. Many people stick with acupuncture for years. Some come in for a burst of sessions when they experience a stressful season or a flare-up of an old ache; others are here weekly, come hell or high water, because acupuncture has become an indispensable tool for self-regulation. And until you’ve tried it, it’s hard to explain, but a lot of people come in just because they love it. When we meet, we will talk about your unique circumstances. We will help you make a plan and find a rhythm. Yeah, it’s a lot. But that’s how it works. And we want it to work for you. That’s why every aspect of our practice is structured to help keep the price of treatment on planet earth.
IF WE’RE ALL IN ONE BIG ROOM, DOES THAT MEAN I HAVE TO DISCUSS MY PERSONAL HEALTH HISTORY IN FRONT OF A BUNCH OF STRANGERS? IS IT LIKE GROUP THERAPY?
First of all, it’s a really, really big room. While we don’t have walls or doors, we do have screens, curtains, the most ambient music we can find, air purifiers, the hum of the freeway, 9,000 white noise machines, and a community who understands the power of whispering. If anything, it’s occasionally hard to hear. Each session is 100% individualized. This is not a group treatment. You are only speaking to your practitioner. The only thing shared is space. If you’re like most people, after a few minutes you will forget anyone else is in the room. We’re also experienced at approaching sensitive topics. We will have reviewed your health history before we sit down to talk, and we have fine-tuned the art of asking only the things we truly need to know to treat you effectively. As an added measure, each time you book an appointment online, you can attach a private note to your practitioner, letting us know what is most urgent today. We read these carefully! It’s a great place to communicate anything you may find difficult to say in person.
ARE YOU A NON-PROFIT? ARE YOU FUNDED BY GRANTS? IS THIS PLACE FOR REAL? IS THIS AN INTRODUCTORY RATE? IS SOMETHING SHADY GOING ON HERE? HOW IS YOUR PRICE SO LOW?
(These are all real questions I’ve been asked, btw!) We’re not a non-profit, and as yet, we are not supported by any grant money. We can keep the price low because of you. When enough people walk through our door, there is no need to charge a high price. We ask for just what we need to keep operating. Acupuncture is meant to be a tool, not a luxury. We rely not just on your presense, but your open minds as well. We don’t have a receptionist; most of the time “we” is actually just one practitioner. We’re grateful that you have the flexibility to use the automated systems we’ve built to learn about what we do and to book your appointments. We’re grateful you’re reading this right now! To keep bringing you affordable care, all we really need is access to a steady stream of community oriented folks with enough imagination to see value in the unconventional. Thank goodness we’re in Detroit.
