Which should be done first, acupuncture or massage

In fact, there is no absolutely unified standard answer. Most of them can be adjusted flexibly depending on the specific conditions of the treatment. However, currently in offline physical therapy centers and traditional Chinese medicine hospitals, the more common operation is to perform massage first and then acupuncture. Of course, there are also many special circumstances where the reverse arrangement is performed.

I met a young man who worked on game development a while ago. He worked on a project for a week. When he arrived, his trapezius muscles were as hard as rice cakes that had been dried for three days. He even turned his neck 30 degrees and grimaced in pain. If he comes up and inserts the needle directly, the muscles will be so tight that the needle will get stuck. Not to mention he will be angry. If he avoids the pain, he will easily break the needle. He was first loosened by rolling and massaging for 15 minutes. The superficial spasm muscles softened and the deep-seated strained nodules were palpable. Then the needle was inserted smoothly. The soreness and swelling felt when the needle went in just penetrated to the deepest strained point. After the needle was inserted, he was able to turn his head left and right to a normal angle on the spot. He even said that he felt much more comfortable.

However, this is not an iron-clad rule. Many orthopedic doctors I know are accustomed to acupuncture first and then massage. Last month, there was an older brother who had a waist injury while carrying goods. When he came, he held his waist to move around. He couldn't touch the flesh on his waist and screamed when he was touched. At this time, it was definitely not possible to press on the patient. First, he pricked the pain points on his hands. During the acupuncture, he was asked to slowly turn his waist and move. In about ten minutes, his pain was reduced by half, and his muscles were no longer tense and resistant. He then used light techniques to slowly straighten out the misplaced small joints and twisted tendons, and he went to work normally the next day.

Now, the industry has different views on this. Some old doctors who practice traditional acupuncture believe that massage will bring all the qi and blood to the body surface. At this time, it is difficult to capture the deep menstrual qi, and the effect will be compromised. They insist on inserting the acupuncture first and then relaxing. Some doctors who do pain rehabilitation believe that relaxing the muscles first can greatly reduce the pain of acupuncture. Patients will be more accepting of it, and subsequent acupuncture will feel more stable and the effect is not bad. In fact, after all, the core of both sequences is to make the conditioning more comfortable and more effective. There are no rigid rules that must be followed.

If you are not sure about the treatment yourself, just tell the doctor directly that you are afraid of pain or have weak strength. The doctor will adjust the order according to your situation, so you don’t have to worry about this.