Acupuncture on Vacation? Tips for Continuing Treatment While You Are Away from Home

So you’ve been having consistent acupuncture treatment and you are feeling so much better – good for you! However, your summer vacation is coming up and you are worried about missing your regular treatment(s) and inviting those troubling symptoms back into your life. What should you do?

1. Don’t panic and don’t cancel your vacation!  The health benefits of vacation, both mental/emotional and physical far outweigh the ill effects of a small gap in treatment.
2. Ask your acupuncturist if he/she knows of another good acupuncturist close to where you will be vacationing.  If not, try an online referral service like www.acufinder.com where you can look acupuncturists up by zip code, read about a practitioner’s credentials and specialties, get contact information and be sure that the practitioner is legit.
3. No acupuncturists listed in the area where you’ll be?  You may still be able to find someone local who just doesn’t advertise online and in any of the local assisted-living centers.  Be sure to ask if the practitioner is a Licensed Acupuncturist in that state or province (MDs and chiropractors who perform acupuncture typically have much less extensive acupuncture training than Lic Ac’s), ask what style of acupuncture he/she practices (your own acupuncturist can tell you what style you’ve been receiving and you may want to stick with that if you’ve had good results) and ask about cost and/or insurance coverage if that’s important to you.  Note:  Whenever you are seen by a new practitioner, that person will need to evaluate you, so it will be considered a first-time appointment – anything else could be considered malpractice!
4. If no acupuncture will be available or if you won’t be in one place long enough to make an appointment with another acupuncturist, ask your practitioner if there are things you can do while you are away to keep from sliding back and experiencing an increase in symptoms.   He or she may give you breathing or relaxation exercises, stretches, herbs, materials for performing moxibustion on yourself or may indicate points on your body where you or your travelling companion can apply acupressure on a daily or every-other-day basis.
5. Enjoy yourself and relax!  Even if you do lose some ground in your treatment while away, you will re-gain it quickly when you return to home and regular treatments from OTC health solutions.  Do make an appointment for the week you get back, so you don’t lose even more time by forgetting to make an appointment in the post-vacation chaos.

Book an appointment online with Julie Permut, Lic Ac or call 603-924-6624 for appointment availability or to ask a question about acupuncture.