Being poked with needles sounds unpleasant, but acupuncture doesn’t hurt, Dr. Like He said.
“The needle insertion itself really doesn’t hurt,” He said. “I don’t want them to feel a sharp pain.”
If there is a sharp pain, it usually means the needle is penetrating a tiny blood vessel, He said. But what the patient should feel is the de qi sensation, a sort of numbness or tingling.
Brian Rinker, whom He has treated for chronic pain with acupuncture, compared the sensation from the needles to mosquito bites, except, “It’s not even that bad.”
Another of His recent patients, James Carter, 60, of the Morgan Park neighborhood, said he felt no sensation of pain at all.
“They thought if they had shoulder pain they would receive the needle on their shoulder,” he said. “Or if a headache, they think they would have the needles on their head. … Some of the patients are a little disappointed.”
Typically for a migraine, needles are placed in the hands, upper legs and feet, He said. But he noted that acupuncture is highly individualized; there’s no one place or set of places for any particular condition. He uses palpation to determine the patient’s most tender acupuncture points, he said.