Can acupuncture and massage be done together?

In most conventional conditioning scenarios, acupuncture and massage can be done together, and the effect is even better than doing either alone.

Last week, I met a 26-year-old programmer who had a stiff neck and had to carry it for three days. When he arrived at the store, his neck was as crooked as a twisted switch. He could turn left at most 15 degrees and gasped in pain. I first massaged his shoulder and neck for 15 minutes, the upper side of the trapezius muscle, and the insertion point of the sternocleidomastoid muscle, which were as hard as frozen dough. I slowly kneaded them to loosen them, and then inserted the Fengchi, Jianjing, and stiff neck points on the hand. I added a heating lamp to bake the needle while I was removing it. When I took out the needle, he tried to turn his neck, and it could be turned to almost 90 degrees. He came back for a follow-up visit the next day and said that there was almost no pain. If you just give him an acupuncture, the muscles will be too tight, the needle will go in and the breath will be slow, and the needle will easily stagnate. You need to do less talking and more conditioning twice to achieve this effect.

This does not mean that all situations are suitable to be done together. There are indeed different voices in the industry. Many old doctors who practice ancient acupuncture suggest that it is best not to massage within 4 hours after acupuncture, especially the area where the needle has been inserted. First, they are afraid that cold moisture from the outside will be brought in along the needle holes that have not been closed during massage. Second, there are some tonic acupuncture methods that regulate qi and blood. After the injection, the qi and blood are moving in the guided direction. Massage with strong force will disrupt the circulation rhythm and offset the conditioning effect. I have also encountered exceptions. Last time, an aunt pricked the Hegu point at home to treat toothache. After the pricking, she felt her hands were sore, so she asked her wife to press her wrist hard. As a result, there was a big bruise around the needle hole, which took almost a week to disappear. She just didn't pay attention to the area that had just been pricked and couldn't press it randomly.

There are also some special situations that are not suitable for superimposing the two items. For example, if there are wounds on the skin, or areas where herpes is occurring, both needles and massage must be avoided.； For people with severe osteoporosis or coagulation disorders, the massage intensity must be very light, and acupuncture must use shallow needles with fine needles. The doctor must carefully evaluate whether the combination is suitable, and must not be done casually. If you encounter local redness, swelling, heat and pain within 48 hours of an acute sprain or during a gout attack, you must stop massaging the affected area first, not to mention doing it all at once, and at most use distal acupoints for analgesia.

In fact, to put it bluntly, it’s not that confusing. If you want to do both, explain your demands clearly to the operating doctor or physical therapist in advance. Regular practitioners will choose the appropriate matching method according to your physical condition and conditioning purpose. Whether you should press first and then acupuncture, or wait a few hours after acupuncture and then press again, or simply do it separately, they will make arrangements for you clearly, so you don’t have to figure out the pitfalls on your own.