Are there any contraindications to having acupuncture and then a massage? A patient was concerned that the massage might interfere with the treatment. I cannot think of any, but I thought that I would ask.
Are there any contraindications to having acupuncture and then a massage? A patient was concerned that the massage might interfere with the treatment. I cannot think of any, but I thought that I would ask.
Comment by Chad J. Dupuis, L.Ac.
It’s likely more opinion than anything, but we ask our patients to not have a massage that day or the next in most cases. I think it is likely to interfere with the treatment - at times maybe in a positive way, at times maybe negative, at times so minimal that it wouldn’t matter.
From fMRI research, etc. we generally “know” that most of the effects of acupuncture don’t actually happen until hours to about 1.5-2 days later - so anything in that time frame that sends a different set of messages to the body on what to do in theory can conflict with what you have asked the body to do during the acupuncture treatment.