What to expect

All our sessions follow a 3-step process of assessment, advice and application.

1. Assessment

At your initial session, your practitioner will complete a full health history and assessment, so that we can understand your condition and circumstances, and develop a treatment plan for you. At later sessions, the assessment is about discussing any changes, improvements or relevant events that have occurred since your last appointment. This may only take a few minutes.

Understandably, the initial assessment is a longer process. We’ll discuss subjects such as the duration of your condition, previous treatments, and the current health of your sleep, skin, digestion, appetite, emotions, and more. We will also preform postural and orthopedic assessements is you are dealing with any type of pain or injury. 

2. Advice

Your assessment will enable the practitioner to make a diagnosis about your condition. We’ll advise you on the recommended treatment plan.

3. Application

We’ll start to apply your treatment plan from the very first session. Typically, this will be a combination of acupuncture, manual therapy and Chinese medical treatments. Custom-made Chinese herbal teas are often prescribed to follow your therapy session. Your practitioner may also recommend homecare exercises, diet or lifestyle changes.

As your condition improves, raw herbal teas can be replaced with milder tablets or powdered extracts to maintain your health and prevent recurrence.

Please allow 90 minutes for your initial treatment and 60 minutes for follow up sessions.

The number of treatments you need will depend on the duration, severity, and nature of your complaint.

If you’ve had a condition for several years, it may take longer to resolve than a new problem. Many conditions, even chronic problems, improve or may resolve after 6-10 sessions. Some degenerative conditions may require occasional maintenance treatments in time.

To help reduce the number of treatments you’ll need, we will often suggest herbal medicines, exercises, nutritional and lifestyle modifications to increase the efficacy of acupuncture and accelerate the healing process.

After your initial assessment, your practitioner will talk with you about when you can expect to feel better. In the first two weeks of treatment, we often ask patients to attend two therapy sessions per week. That’s because we’ve found our patients experience the best results when the first treatments are closer together.

Acupuncture is considered to be safe, when performed by a qualified acupuncturist.

However, occasionally (as with all health treatments) acupuncture may be associated with possible adverse reactions in individual cases. A small number of patients may experience mild adverse reactions to treatment, such as light-headedness, soreness, bruising or fatigue. Most patients experience no side effects.

Poke Acupuncture’s practitioners are registered acupuncturists; that means we hold the highest qualifications and training.

All our needles are sterile and single use, which makes any risk of infection extremely low.

It is common to feel a heavy, dull, or warm aching sensation after the acupuncture needle has been inserted. For some this sensation is mild and stronger for others. The needles we use in our clinic are so thin (0.22mm in diameter) that many people don’t feel them go in. Any sensations usually last only a few seconds before subsiding.

Chinese Medicine is generally considered to be safe, and negative side effects are rare but occasionally may happen in individual cases. 

All herbal formulas are dispensed by our highly qualified Practitioners from our herbal pharmacy, in clinic, on the day of your treatment. We will always advise you if there is any foreseeable issue combining your prescribed medicine with anything else.

Most of our herbs are grown and manufactured in Taiwan and must meet strict Australian standards. We strive to provide raw Chinese herbs that have been third-party tested for heavy metals and pesticides by Eurofins laboratories. Our granulated herbal formulas are typically supplied by Koda or KPC brands.

Cupping therapy feels a lot like deep tissue massage, but not as intense. Most patients find it relaxing and a great way to relieve tension.

Cupping therapy can leave marks that look like a bruise or a hickey, and may last for a week. The marks are not actually bruises. Bruises are caused by soft tissue trauma, whereas cupping marks are an indicator that the soft tissue below the skin has sluggish or stagnated circulation causing waste products to build up in the tissue.

Chinese Medicine can typically be combined with most conventional medicines and other complementary medicines, as well as working across multiple Chinese health modalities.

We usually recommend that two hours be given between taking medications and Chinese herbs. Your practitioner will give you customized guidance for taking your medicinal teas, powders or pills.

We're experienced in working with other health professionals, so we’re comfortable referring patients to other healthcare providers if we feel your condition needs therapeutic help beyond our skill sets or in addition to the help we can provide.

Yes, if you have private health cover for acupuncture and/or Chinese medicine, you will be able to claim back some of the cost of your treatment. The refund amount will depend on your insurer and type of cover, and terms and conditions may apply.

Poke Acupuncture offers Healthpoint and can offer on the spot rebates for most Australian heath funds. If your health fund is unable to bill directly, we will provide you with an invoice to submit your own claim.

Our acupuncturists, Ryan Samuels and Lani Stokes, are both highly skilled, and registered qualified acupuncturists.

Lani and Ryan have each completed a Diploma of Doctor of Traditional Chinese Medicine. Ryan holds a diploma of remedial massage (Canada) and completed his prerequisites for Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine College in Kinesiology and Lani completed hers in Chinese Language.

Both Ryan and Lani are nationally registered with AHPRA as Acupuncturists and Chinese medical herbalists.

Each has worked in clinical practice for thriving multi-disciplinary clinics in Canada, and they are both are accustomed to liaising with other health-care professionals to accommodate your wellness needs.