So, this is the FIRST time I've EVER gotten acupuncture in my LIFE…read more
However, based on my dad's awesome experience at this place, I decided to give it a shot and see if Dr. Zhao could fix my wrist.
Background info: my left wrist has been bothering me for the past couple years. I've gone to Kaiser to get it checked out, got x-rays, the whole nine, and the Dr. said it's probably just tendonitis and that I'd probably just have to live with it and she suggested that I get Bayer.
OK.. that's great, I'm sure the Bayer will help relieve the pain, buuuuuut.. this doesn't exactly allow me to do stuff that I want to do and can't do because it makes my wrist hurt (certain Yoga poses, for example, or putting too much weight on the wrist).
Enter Dr. Zhao. I go into his office, and he examines my wrist. Then he started pressing different parts of the wrist and adjusting it, I guess? While he's doing this, he explains the anatomy of the wrist to me, what's wrong with my wrist, and after messing around with my wrist for a bit, he asks me to test the wrist again. And voila, it hurts less than it did before. He then asked me if I wanted the needles and that the needles would help my wrist heal faster. So, he sticks my arm/wrist with some needles and then puts this electromagnetic contraption heat lamp thingy over my wrist.
After the session, my wrist did hurt a little bit, but I'm assuming it's part of the process, because now my wrist feels better than it did before. It's not 100% better though, so I'll probably have to go back and get a few more treatments.
I hope it works, because it definitely worked for my dad. My dad has had chronic back pains for the past 20+ years (from working hard and doing heavy lifting during the many years he's worked at the SJ Flea Market to provide for us *tear*), and he's tried everything, from western medicine to other acupuncturists. And a few years ago when he tried Dr. Zhao, after 2 months of treatments he said his back pain is pretty much all gone. Miraculous!
Oh yeah, I didn't know this place was cash only, so when I went and realized they didn't accept credit cards, I was feeling so mortified because not only did I not have cash, I didn't have my ATM card on me. The receptionist and Dr. Zhao were both insanely nice and accommodating, and they told me that it's fine if I don't have the cash to pay that day, and that I could just pay the next time I come back.
Of course, I went back the next day to pay, and when I did they looked surprised and told me that I really could have just waited until my next treatment to pay, but I couldn't have that on my conscience. Either way, that was a really nice thing of them to do.