Strong Women’s Chloe Gray is on a mission to better look after her body. In the first of a new series, she tries acupuncture (despite a fear of needles) to see if it can finally help her destress.
I hate needles – I always have. So when I found myself lying on an acupuncturist’s table, having sharp metal pins stuck into my arms and legs, panic started to seep in. My hands were clammy and my mouth went dry – all in the name, ironically, of rest and relaxation.
Despite having had all the necessary jabs – including three Covid shots – I can’t help but feel sick and shiver at just the thought of a needle puncturing my skin (reader, even looking at the photos from my appointment make me shudder). So, why on earth did I agree to have acupuncture?
Well, the practice is peaking in popularity (again) in the wellness world. Searches for ‘acupuncture near me’ have risen 2150% over the past five years, and new clinics are opening on high streets offering fast, walk-in services to treat everyday stress. The practice is clearly not new – it’s an ancient tradition, first knowingly used over 3000 years ago in China to support the flow of qi (or energy) around the body.
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Perhaps that is the reason why it’s having a resurgence. Post-lockdown, low energy and chronic ailments are all on the rise (studies show around 45% of people in America have a health condition, with the number rising) and recentering energy is at the top of the priority list for many. I know that was why I turned up.
The past few years have been overwhelming, and 2022 has been no better. For me, it had been filled with mysterious illnesses and grief, and it swiftly became apparent that these things were stressing me out more than I realised. My period cycle went weird; I was suddenly getting DOMS from workouts that weren’t any more challenging than normal (my body clearly couldn’t keep up with the demand I was putting on it) and I got Covid. After two years of avoiding the illness, that was the final red flag that my stress was seriously taking its toll on my immune system.
Acupuncture is a frequent recommendation for managing chronic stress. But signing up to a practice that involves the one thing you hate doesn’t – on the face of it – seem to tick the boxes for a relaxing experience.
But then my dad, a pharmacist and traditional wellness sceptic, lauded acupuncture for unfreezing the muscles in his back and calming the tissues that had been in spasm for days.
The research showed he was right: a 2019 study showed that acupuncture improves the pathological and inflammatory state of muscle fibres. And a recent paper from Frontiers in Psychology showed that acupuncture increased the activation of serotonin receptors in the four regions of the brain, with researchers concluding it could reduce chronic stress and depressive-like behaviour. So I gave in.
Choosing the type of acupuncture
These new scatter-gun salons might work for some, but the strip lighting and fast-paced environment isn’t exactly soothing for those who are already on edge. So for a more relaxing experience, I opted for five-element acupuncture, a style based on the belief our personality, physiology and energy are led by wood, earth, metal, water and fire. It’s a personal approach, in which a therapy-like session is had before the treatment to get to the root cause of your problems, your pulses are taken to find where your energy is stuck and, crucially, as few needles as possible are used.
My practitioner, Asha Chong, told me that she thinks using double-digit needles can often do more harm than good, explaining that you won’t nail the specific cause of your problems if you just stimulate every region.
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“A person’s symptoms are seen as alarm bells of distress and a welcome signal that something is wrong. Rather than try to silence a symptom, five element acupuncture aims to find and treat the root cause. This personal focus fuels the potency of acupuncture treatment and affects an improvement,” says Chong.
“Using fewer needles reflects the traditional purpose of acupuncture, that every human being has the innate ability to self-restore and return to their optimum health, whatever that will be for them in relative terms.”
She may have only used seven needles during my appointment, but they were needles nonetheless. Even after our calming consultation (in which we went through everything from my diet to my relationship with my siblings), getting into the chair was still anxiety-inducing.
The initial anxiety soothed as the initial three needles sat in my skin for around 10 minutes, the nausea settling and the sharpness seeping away from the incision point. But then the most intense needles were placed into my wrist and hand, leaving them in for seconds at a time. Heat rushed to the area immediately and then dispelled the second the needles were removed.
“The needles that stay in are there to regulate the energy system into homeostasis and steer the sympathetic nervous system away from any flight-and-flight reactions or responses,” Chong told me. “The quick in-and-out needles bolster, strengthen and nourish the energy systems, giving the person more life, focus and general vitality.”
Like every holistic treatment, it will take multiple sessions to really be able to make a decision on whether it’s working for you. But I won’t be the first person to say that I felt a potent immediate impact, like someone had shaken something up inside of me.
Maybe it was the qi finally flowing, but I slept better that night and felt more energised in the next workout than I had in a long time. And after those sessions, my DOMS weren’t as bad as before. I hate to say that I’m going to keep going back for more, but perhaps exposure therapy won’t just re-light my dulled fire but also cure my fear of needles.
Images: Chloe Gray
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