We want you to feel at home right away so things are professional but relaxed and friendly. There are a couple of forms that you will be asked to fill out and sign outlining our policies. You will probably have already received your Health History form via email and brought that with you completed. Doing this in advance expedites your appointment so that you can have more time to meet with our Acupuncturist, Kym Kleiman M.Ac., L.Ac., Dipl.Ac., Board Certified Acupuncturist (NCCAOM).
Kym may spend up to 2 hours with you. During this time she is getting to know you on many levels, through information on your Health History form, by observing you and talking to you she is assessing your condition from both a Western Medical perspective and a Traditional Chinese Medical perspective. Her observations during this interview allow her to understand the areas in your life that may be out of balance and causing your specific disease manifestation. We encourage Patients to speak freely.
This deep understanding of you as an individual, provides her with the clues she needs to design a specific wellness plan that you will employ as a team to bring you back to alignment. Kym is very clear that the Practitioner/Patient relationship is a team situation. The greatest healing occurs, when the willingness of the individual is activated.
After your private, in depth Health Interview Kym will allow you time to prepare in one of our comfortable treatment rooms. We ask that you wear comfortable loose clothing. She will then begin your Acupuncture treatment by looking at your tongue and taking your pulses. The treatment may include Acupuncture, Cupping, Moxibustion, Tui Na. (See our Services page for descriptions on these treatments.) Kym's background in Nutrition and Natural Foods enable her to provide you with individualized dietary and lifestyle suggestions to employ on your own between treatments. She may give you take-home assignments.
Traditional Asian Acupuncture is based on ancient Chinese theories of the flow of qi (a fine, essential substance which nourishes and constructs the body) through distinct channels or meridians that cover the body somewhat like the nerves and blood vessels. According to this theory Acupuncture adjusts the flow of qi in the body, leading it to areas where it is insufficient and draining it away from areas where it is stuck and or superabundant. In this way, Acupuncture restores the harmonious balance of the body and its parts. In Chinese there is a saying, "If there is pain, there is no free flow; if there is free flow, there is no pain." Acupuncture promotes and reestablishes the free flow of qi.
Acupuncture needles are typically not much thicker than a human hair, and their insertion is practically painless. It is nothing like receiving an ordinary injection. In some cases you will not know that the needles are in place. In others, there may be some tingling, warmth, a sense of heaviness, or a feeling of qi moving up and down the channels. Most find it very relaxing and many fall asleep during treatment.
In the state of Arizona some insurance companies cover acupuncture treatments. Liferoot Acupuncture will provide documentation to you to submit to your Insurance company for reimbursement, however we do not bill insurance directly. There are some instances where we may treat patients by prescriptions provided by their doctors for treatment of an auto injury and submit a bill to State Farm for Auto Injury claims.
The World Health Organization and the National Institutes of Health recognize that Acupuncture is effective for treating many conditions including the following:
In addition Acupuncture has been used for centuries throughout Asia to treat hundreds of other problems.