Which to do first, acupuncture or massage?

I have been a physical therapist for 7 years and have been asked this question no less than a thousand times - there is really no absolute standard answer, it all depends on your current physical condition and conditioning needs.

For example, the young man who came here last week to do back-end development had a stiff shoulder and neck that made him feel stuffy when he touched it, and it was difficult to even turn his head. He had been injected with needles in other places before, and he said it was so painful that he was sweating, but it was of no use. I used rolling methods to loosen the fascia of his trapezius and upper back for 20 minutes, and gently rubbed away the big nodules before inserting the needle. When the needle was inserted, he didn't feel much pain. When the needle was retained, he said that the shoulder area was warm, which was much better than the last experience.

But if I encounter problems such as acute sprains and herpes zoster neuralgia, I will definitely not apply pressure first. In the past two months, an aunt had her waist hurt while shopping for groceries. When she came, she couldn't straighten up while holding her waist. There was already a small area of ​​swelling in her waist. If she massaged it first, it would aggravate the soft tissue edema and make the pain worse. I first pricked the pain points on her hands and the lumbosacral area of ​​the ear points. During the acupuncture, I asked her to slowly move her waist. She was able to straighten up most of the way in three to five minutes. Then I used very light techniques to loosen her deep spasm of psoas muscles, and she was able to walk home on her own the same day.

I have also communicated with many colleagues, and some people think that no matter what the situation is, acupuncture must be done first. They say that massage will draw qi and blood to the body surface, and the feeling of qi obtained by acupuncture will be much worse. In fact, this statement is not wrong. For those who frequently undergo conditioning and have no obvious muscle tension or stiffness, acupuncture can be used to unblock the deep-seated Qi and blood blockage, and then use massage to smooth out the Qi and blood scattered to the surface. This will make it less likely to be sore and swollen for two or three days after the acupuncture. I had a stiff neck a while ago, and I had Fengchi and Waiguan pierced first. After 70% of the pain was gone, I asked my colleague to loosen my shoulder and neck. It was all healed the same day, and there was no delay in treating the guests.

There is really no need to worry about the order. When you go for conditioning, just explain your feelings clearly - where does it hurt, how long has it been hurting, and whether you can bear the force. Professional physical therapists will adjust it according to your situation. It is unnecessary to impose a fixed standard of order.