Can acupuncture and massage be done together?

In most cases, acupuncture and massage can be carried out together, and in many clinical scenarios they can even achieve a conditioning effect of 1+1>2. I met a young man who works in Internet operations a while ago. He had a stiff neck for three days and could not turn his head 30 degrees. His shoulders and neck were as hard as frozen rice cakes when touched. If the needle was inserted alone, the muscles were too tight and the needle sensation could not be transmitted. It was also easy for the needle to stick. When I massaged it alone, he was so painful that he couldn't move his hands. So I used a light rolling method to loosen him 15 times. After the muscles softened, I inserted the cervical splenius and Jianjing points. While the needles were being inserted, I also kneaded the scalene muscles of his upper back, which were so tight that they were knotted. When the needles were inserted, he could turn his head left and right to look at his shoulders on the spot. The swelling was basically gone the next day, and he recovered much faster than usual using one method alone.

However, there are many colleagues around me who do not recommend casually putting the two together. It is not that there are any absolute side effects, but mainly because they are afraid of problems caused by improper operation. When I first started in the industry, I also experienced a pitfall. I performed a three-mile prick for an aunt who had been taking anticoagulants all year round. I pressed her leg to relax her. As a result, she had a big bruise at the pinhole the next day, and it took two or three days for the pain to subside. Some veteran Chinese medicine practitioners have repeatedly said that the acupuncture points that have just been acupuncture are in an active state for a short period of time after receiving qi. If you use too strong a massage method, it may disrupt the rhythm of qi and blood flow and offset the effect of the acupuncture.

If you really want to do it together, there are not so many rigid rules. If you are doing ordinary filiform needle health acupuncture, the best effect is to massage and loosen the muscles first and then insert the needles. The muscles are relaxed and the needles penetrate deeper and it is less likely to hurt. If the needle has just been inserted, just don’t press hard on the needle hole within 6 hours. If you are doing invasive acupuncture procedures such as bloodletting and fire acupuncture, don’t massage the operation site on the same day to avoid infection. If you just want to do daily relaxation and conditioning, you can try a combination of the two. Just tell the technician in advance whether you have skin sensitivity or abnormal blood coagulation. Don't worry too much about unnecessary taboos.