COST AND TREATMENT FREQUENCY
RCAC has a sliding scale that ranges from $25-$40 per treatment and is based on income level. All first visits are $50 due to the fact that they tend to run longer. The main reason that I keep costs so affordable is to make it possible for you to come frequently enough to get better and stay better. As mentioned earlier acupuncture efficacy depends on the interaction between your self-healing capacity and the severity and length of your symptoms. A healthy person maintains optimum homeostasis, which results in the best self-healing potential and produces a fast, complete cure of most pain symptoms. If a healthy person suffers from acute pain symptoms, they can usually be relieved by 2-4 acupuncture treatments. When chronic disease or pain is affecting the body, homeostasis declines and healing potential is reduced. Patients with chronic disease or pain usually need 8-16 treatments to achieve relief. The same symptoms may return after 4-6 months, and then additional acupuncture will be needed to keep pain under control for another 4-6 months. In addition, chronic pain/symptoms become “wired or programmed” into the spinal cord and possibly the brain centers to build up “pain memory.” Erasing this “pain circuitry” often takes months!
On your first visit, I will suggest a course of treatment, which can be anything from, “I’d like to see you once a week for six weeks” to “I’d like to see you every day for the next four days.” This suggestion is based on my experience with treating different kinds of conditions. If you don’t come in often enough or long enough, acupuncture probably won’t work for you. The purpose of the sliding scale, again, is to help you make that commitment in order to get the best results.
