Being poked with needles sounds unpleasant, but acupuncture doesn’t hurt, Dr. Like He said.<\/p>\n
“The needle insertion itself really doesn’t hurt,” He said. “I don’t want them to feel a sharp pain.”<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.”<\/p>\n
Another of His recent patients, James Carter, 60, of the Morgan Park neighborhood, said he felt no sensation of pain at all.<\/p>\n
“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.”<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n