Acupuncture works for many patients, but not everyone responds the same way. If you've completed a fair trial — usually four to six sessions for an acute issue, or six to eight for something chronic — and you genuinely haven't felt any shift, we'd rather know than have you keep coming in hoping things change.

Tell your practitioner. They'll look at the plan honestly with you and consider whether something needs to change: a different point selection, a different style of acupuncture, adding cupping or herbal medicine, or whether a different provider on the team might be a better fit. Sometimes the answer is also that acupuncture alone isn't the right tool, and we'll say so. We can recommend or refer you to other providers — physical therapists, physicians, mental health providers, or other practitioners across NYC — who might be better suited to what's going on.

The goal is for you to feel better — not for you to keep doing acupuncture if it isn't helping.