What to Wear to Acupuncture

Achilles tendonitis has knocked me off my feet for the last few months. I miss running so, yesterday, I went to an acupuncturist who was recommended by a friend who is a professional athlete (in other words, she needs a lot of body work).

What to Wear to Acupuncture
Depending on what they're going to work on, the acupuncturist might give you hospital-esque gown. This gives them easy access to your back or sternum. In those cases, it doesn't matter what you wear because you'll be taking it off. The hard part, is you don't always know what they'll want to work on.

Acupuncture may treat your issues by focusing on up to three areas:

• Your pain point
• An area near the pain
• Some other, random-seeming part of your body that has a relationship to your problem area that you might never have guessed 

For example, yesterday, to work on my left Achilles, acupuncturist Christopher put tiny needles in my left Achilles, right knee and both hips, plus a few other areas.

So what to wear if you don't know what's going to happen?

• Wear clothes that are loose fitting or stretchy
• Be prepared to take off your shoes (i.e. slap some lotion on those puppies and dig out the toe jam)
• Be clean - your therapist uses all the senses, including smell, to treat; you don't want them to be overwhelmed with your favorite cologne or last night's sexcapades
• Wear separates (no coveralls, jumpsuits or dresses) for easy access to hips and lower back

And, if you're in the Bay Area and looking for an acupuncturist who's completely grounded in Eastern medicine but totally present in today's world (in other words - he knows his stuff and is easy to talk to), I recommend Christopher Pearson at Be Well Integral Healing in Oakland.