Before you type “acupuncture near me” or find the best acupuncture in Perth, into google, there are 5 things you need to consider in finding a good acupuncture doctor. Location is one of them, but there are four others you might be surprised to find out…not all acupuncturists are the same, and not all patients are the same. This article and video explain what you need to know to find the best and right acupuncturist /acupuncture doctor for you.
Firstly where are you going to find your acupuncturist might come from either
- Ask for a recommendation
A friend, work college or family member might have had acupuncture before and this could be a good start to find a new acupuncture doctor for yourself. A doctor or another health professional you already see might have a recommendation for you based on what they know about your case and who might be best suited to help you.
2. Online Search
Heading over to Google, you can search for “acupuncturist near me” or Acupuncture + your suburb name” . Now what? But will this person be right for YOU? This indepth guide will help you figure out the rest and make a better decision about who could help you.
This in-depth guide presents 5 vital things you need to consider before choosing the right acupuncturist for you. Marie Hopkinson has 21+years experience in practice in Australia, and is a well-known lecturer of Chinese medicine. This in-depth guide will help you find a good acupuncturist no matter the country or area you live.
To find a good acupuncturist, you must consider:
- Practice Location
- Accessibility (including price)
- Style of Practice
- Expertise / special interest and experience
- Practitioners commitment to learning
- LOCATION
The location is important, especially for something like acupuncture because you need to come in for treatments.
How often will I need to come in for treatments?
Again, every practitioner will have their own variations on this but in general it’s going to be more often (over less time) for something acute. If you just hurt your back yesterday and get in for treatment in a few days, then maybe 2 or 3 treatments might be needed (even sometimes less). If you have a lot of problems going on (and don’t worry most acupuncturists don’t mind that you have a lot going on, it’s very common for patients to have 2 or 3 health issues at once), then you need to give your body time to work as well as the treatment itself – your own acupuncturist can advise you how long and how often you need to come in. Often, it’s weekly then fortnightly and then into a maintenance period of some sorts. Some patients who use acupuncture as a stress-relief type of preventative sessions might come in weekly as part of their relaxation routine. The point is you need to find a clinic space you can actually get to. It might be close to your work, home, kids school or whatever works in conveniently with you.
Some patients really don’t care about the location. I have many patients who travel over an hour to see me because they value some of the other things I’ll discuss in the article more over being conveniently close by. On the other hand, I have had patients cease treatment with me simply because I moved my clinic 15 minutes drive away from the old location. Everyone is different and uses Chinese medicine / acupuncture for different reasons. You have to find what works for you.
2. ACCESSIBILITY
Things like special needs that you may have, hours the practitioner has can make a practitioner better for some patients more than others. Do you require wheelchair access? Not all clinics in Perth will have this, many older places may have been established before council requirements were introduced. Different councils have different clinic parking requirements. For instance in Fremantle, its common for there to be no provided parking for patients whereas in some councils, especially clinics I have set up in the past in the shire of Bayswater for instance they may require a clinic to have 3 to 5 bays available for every practitioner who works there.
Public transport may be something you need, these are all issues to consider, especially if you are going to use acupuncture for chronic pain management. You don’t want location and accessibility to be an obstacle so you can’t get into treatments when you need them.
Some practitioners offer “after hours” appointments that they might not even make available on their website, so it’s worth calling the practice and checking if you need particular appointment times.
Accessibility can also include price. Is their fee and treatment plan structure within your means not just in terms of the money cost but the time cost to you. Costs for acupuncture treatment often vary with add-ons like cupping, moxa, and herbal medicine. Sometimes taking herbal medicine can reduce the need for acupuncture treatments and hence lower the cost and time to you overall. Practitioners charge their services differently and its important that the fees /cost is transparent to you, not just ethically but in Australia its the law and if your practitioner is an AHPRA registered one, then their registration requires them to be transparent and not misleading with fees charged.
Some things can reduce the cost like private health insurance rebates, NDIS, workers compensation insurance or motor vehicle accident insurance if any of these might apply to the reason you are having the treatment, you should ask your practitioner about it.
3. STYLE OF PRACTICE
different acupuncture doctors have different styles. This can be different in terms of length and frequency of treatments, how long the acutal treatment takes when you are there – some doctors leave the needles in for 20+minutes, some don’t at all, they put them in, manipulate them a bit and then take them straight out.
There are a huge range of styles of acupuncture some of which include: Dr Tan balance method, classical needling styles like Neijing Acupuncture, The Bob Doane Method, Japanese Acupuncture (again there are many styles), and the list goes on.
If you are looking for a new practitioner and you had something that was working well for you in the past (with your previous Chinese medicine doctor) then it’s worthwhile asking that previous Dr what you had. They might even be able to refer you to someone else in your new area/ country that practices the same style that you are used to having.
Some patients don’t care about style as long as it works, and this is something you often wont know until you undergo some treatments and see what happens.
4. ABILITY OF THE PRACTITIONER TO TAKE YOUR CASE / Their Special Interests and Expertise.
I remember when I first graduated and went out into my own clinic, I was 22 and very much grateful for patients who entrusted me with their problems and serious health issues even though I was pretty green. There is no other way to learn unless you just dive into the deep end in some cases, however as a patient I can understand the need to seek a practitioner who has treated what you have before.
Be aware of highly individualised nature of Chinese medicine, how it’s focus is the person rather than using treatments for diseases or conditions. Even though I might see 5 patients with the same WM diagnosed condition their treatment would vary according to their own Chinese medicine diagnosis – and things like their pulse diagnosis etc. So what I’m getting at here is that just because a practitioner hasn’t ever treated a patient with a specific illness dosen’t mean they can’t very competently utilise the system of Chinese medicine so it shouldn’t be a major put-off if you call up and find out that Dr XYZ hasn’t treated many or any patients with your particular condition.
What you should be thinking is are they willing to take on your case – especially if its an unusual one. Are they willing to do the necessary research / homework to address your condition in the best way they know how.
Some acupuncturists don’t treat certain types of patients, or cases, or they prefer not to take them in preference to fill their practice within their special interest area(s). In Australia we are not allowed to use the term “specialist” as that is reserved for Western Medical professionals (similar to the use of the term “Medical practitioner” – so often Acupuncture doctors might say they have a “special interest in” one or more particular conditions.
Also for many western medicine conditions, Acupuncturists and Chinese herbalists registered with AHPRA are restricted from advertising that they can treat many conditions, due to the lack of Western-medicine related evidence of an extremely high standard. Acupuncturists and Herbalists registered with AHPRA cannot use the traditional or historical evidence that we base our practice upon in the advertising of ‘conditions’. Its really complicated what registered acupuncturists and herbalists can say about conditions they treat in their advertising. Its best that you reach out to practitioners individually and ask about if they may be able to help you in a verbal one-on-one conversation.
If your not sure, call the practice and find out. Ask to speak with the Acupuncturist about your case. I welcome these kinds of calls because I know the patient is serious about finding a good acupuncture doctor for the long term when they want to speak with you first, especially when they have a unusual case.
5. Acupuncturists COMMITMENT TO LEARNING
Finally, I think this is really an important aspect of finding a good acupuncturist in Perth, or wherever you are, is that you can see from their website, blogs/newsletters or their communication with you that they are committed to ongoing learning.
One of the reasons I engaged in teaching so early in my career is that it forces you to stay focused on learning yourself. (And I really love teaching) but you are always on your toes when faced with a bunch of new to Chinese medicine students, and they can often ask questions that stump you (or that you need to research the answer for them). Thats a great thing. Many practitioners commit hours of study well beyond what’s “required” or necessary and are actively engaged in a pursuit to be better. Unfortunately there are some acupuncturists who just fumble on with the same old, same old stuff they have always done, and this often leads to poor outcomes or that their practice just stays the same over time.
I’m not writing this blog / doing this video to have a go at anyone in our profession, but to simply highlight that even though we are registered in the same capacity, there are big differences between practitioners and what matters to you may not matter much to another patient. These things are not presented in a particular heirechay, they could follow in any order of importance for you. For instance you may not care that the practitioner is an hours drive away because the cost and time taken to see them is worth it because you believe they have the most experience and expertise for your difficult or unusual case.
I hope this article can help you find the right person to help you with acupuncture.
If you are in Perth, I do take on new patients and If you’d like t get to know a bit about whether you think I might be right for you, I offer a free discovery call where we can have a 10 minute chat on the phone first. Its free, confidential and you can ask whatever questions you like before we go forward with any treatment bookings.
Book a free call with me here: https://bespokemedicine.net/discovery-call/
Marie’s new practice location: Metro Health & Medicine
3/ 48 May St Bayswater
http://bespokemedicine.net/patients/
topics include: acupuncture near me cost, what is a good acupuncture doctor, ahpra acupuncture – some registration of AHPRA and acupuncture / Chinese medicine are discussed by Marie in this video. So before you search who is the best acupuncturist or how to find good acupuncturist, do yourself a favour and watch my step by step guide to finding the right practitioner for you.
Some acupuncture legal issues are mentioned.
TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 Marie’s intro – why should you even listen to me?
00:36 difference in regulated and unregulated countries
01:37 Government registration by AHPRA in Australia, the grandfathering process that happened in Australia – what does that mean for our profession
02:58 length of study required for acupuncturists …aka do you have to study to do acupuncture ?
The five things to consider in finding a good acupuncture doctor:
04:00 LOCATION
06:30 ACCESSIBILITY (open times of practitioners availability, any special needs that you may have)
09:30 STYLE OF PRACTICE
12:35 ABILITY OF THE PRACTITIONER TO TAKE YOUR CASE
Expertise / speciality of the acupuncturist
19:26 Reviews, testimonials on social media – the law around testimonial advertising in Australia.
25:26 ACUPUNCTURISTS COMMITMENT TO LEARNING
30:43 Lets talk about money! Health insurance and other things related to cost are mentioned.
34:23 Summing it up .
Learn more about classical Chinese medicine (particularly Marie’s main interest is in pulse-based herbal medicine)
Email: [email protected]
topics include: acupuncture near me cost, what is a good acupuncture doctor, ahpra acupuncture – some registration of AHPRA and acupuncture / Chinese medicine are discussed by Marie in this video. So before you search who is the best acupuncturist or how to find good acupuncturist, do yourself a favor and watch my step by step guide to finding the right practitioner for you.
Some acupuncture legal issues are mentioned.
Watch the full length how-to guide video: