The needle man

Warren of activepointswellness.com

 Some of you have asked me about acupuncture and what I get out of it. Well, I just got home from my latest treatment, and this time I asked him to concentrate on my mental state, which has been suffering from sadness and humiliation after having had such a hard time on last Thursday's hike. Not only that, but finally I understand the meaning of "doomscrolling," or continuing to deal with the horrifying news that is overtaking all my news channels. I can't seem to catch a break, and Warren listened carefully, and then stuck me with needles in my legs and head, mostly.

My legs look a little pink, because Warren put a warming lamp over my feet, so I'd be comfy as I lay on the table. I've also got a few needles in my knees, which suffered from the beating I gave them last week. However, after a few days, I was surprised at how much better my whole body felt, so Warren didn't actually need to concentrate on any overuse injury. By Sunday I almost felt like my old self again.

Then he went up to my head and put in my favorite needles: the ones in my scalp. Most of the time, rather than feeling a pinprick like in other places on my body, I get a serious rush of pleasure from head to toe. Sort of like a happy shock.

For some reason I cannot seem to put a caption under this image; each time I try it disappears and when I try to load it again, it's fine until I attempt to write something underneath. (Oh, well.) Anyway, you can see the pins resting on the table above my head. 

After he puts all the pins in, he sometimes spends a few minutes massaging my shoulders (he calls them trigger points), and then he leaves me alone with quiet piano music playing on a device for about a half hour. I don't move around much, because I've discovered that it usually hurts if I do. Those pins are carefully placed.

Once he comes in and removed them (I'm always a little sad that it's over), we spend a few minutes chatting. He takes my credit card and schedules me for three weeks from today, which I have found is just about right. Of course, if I could afford it, I'd come weekly.

When I walk out of his office, I always feel lighter and brighter. The effects tend to last for close to a week, and slowly they fade into the background. However, the knee he works on each time I'm there is much better than before I began treatment with him three years ago. I initially started because of a heel pain, which has never returned after he worked on it for six or seven sessions.

There are many different varieties of acupuncture, and Warren's is more physically based, which you can read about if you visit his website. I don't think I will stop getting treatments any time soon.

:-)