Acupuncture is a process...

Just as there is a slow food movement, what community acupuncture clinics are doing is a movement towards slow medicine. Acupuncture is gentle, safe, and effective for a wide range of disorders - but generally speaking it takes some doing. As in, you have to actually get acupuncture to benefit from it...it is very much a process.

It's not like we just put the needles in 'just so' and you are magically fixed (well...sometimes). More often than not some kind of course of treatment is required.

One of THE central ideas behind the sliding scale fee structure of South Austin Community Acupuncture is to price treatment such that ordinary people can afford to get acupuncture as often or for as long as they need to get great results.

Why am I saying this - again?

Because: I have had the experience of patients who seemingly understand that their course of treatment is going to be a process - they tell me they are not looking for a quick fix, and that they are ready to do whatever it takes to solve their problem that has been plaguing them for years. Then they come three or four times and disappear...

Mostly, people show up when they have an acute something going on, or when they just feel like getting acupuncture. Then there's a handful that come long term - some for years.

But I'm not writing this for the folks who have already figured out how to best use acupuncture for themselves. I  am writing this to give some perspective specifically to those who maybe are not familiar with acupuncture, or those who tried it once or twice and decided it didn't work...

Many acupuncturists charge $70 or more for a single treatment. At South Austin Community Acupuncture you could get four treatments for that amount of money - or literally a months worth of treatments for the cost of one single treatment at other clinics. Put yet another way, you could come for 6 MONTHS for what it would cost you to go 6 WEEKS elsewhere...By doing this we are making it possible for you to get acupuncture over a period of time and really help you with your problem.

This is huge! In fact it is the elephant in the treatment room.

The community acupuncture people are the only people I've seen have the courage, and honesty, and common sense to point out that maybe the most important thing about acupuncture is not the prowess of the practitioner, but rather the most important thing is simply getting acupuncture.

Getting acupuncture...

Sure, some have more experience or training than others - but at the end of the day acupuncture is at heart a simple yet profound folk medicine. It is not magic! Chance's are it's not gonna work any better if your acupuncturist studied with a Daoist priest who traces his lineage back to 2AD...It's gonna work better if you get it - often enough, and/or long enough.

So, I encourage folks with chronic, stubborn problems to stay with it. You have a unique opportunity with community acupuncture to actually use acupuncture to your best advantage. Things that took a lifetime, or years to develop are not going to be fixed with two or three treatments. Give it some time, and enjoy the process....