What Is the “Healing Response” to Acupuncture? Common Symptoms and Who Tends to Experience It

Receiving acupuncture treatment is said to deliver various benefits — improving circulation, easing coldness and puffiness, and regulating the autonomic nervous system for a relaxed state.

On the other hand, after acupuncture treatment, a “healing response” may occur — a temporary appearance of symptoms like dizziness or headaches as the body goes through a recovery process.

This article details the common symptoms of the healing response to acupuncture and the traits of those who tend to experience it.

What Benefits Can You Expect from Acupuncture?

Acupuncture is a treatment that boosts the body’s natural healing ability by placing needles or applying moxa to acupoints.

Many people use it aiming for pain reduction and improved physical condition.

Here we introduce the benefits you can expect from acupuncture.

Improved Circulation

Acupuncture can be expected to smooth blood flow, helping nutrients and oxygen reach the whole body more easily.

Improved circulation not only helps with coldness and puffiness, but also helps ease shoulder stiffness and lower-back pain.

If you feel stagnant circulation from desk work or lack of exercise, needles and moxa can also reduce fatigue.

Better circulation also activates skin turnover, offering the happy bonus of a potential beauty effect.

It’s a treatment especially recommended for those troubled by chronic coldness or fatigue.

Regulating the Autonomic Nervous System

The autonomic nervous system is an important system that controls temperature regulation and internal organ function.

However, ongoing stress or an irregular lifestyle can disrupt the autonomic nervous system, causing various symptoms like headaches, dizziness, insomnia, and digestive discomfort.

Acupuncture is also recommended for regulating this autonomic balance.

Stimulating acupoints makes the parasympathetic nervous system more dominant, making relaxation easier and loosening physical and mental tension.

With continued relaxation, it’s said that falling asleep becomes easier and deep sleep more attainable.

It’s a treatment we’d love for those feeling stress or autonomic disruption to try.

Improving Gynecological Symptoms

Acupuncture is also effective for gynecological discomfort like irregular periods, menstrual pain, and menopausal disorders.

Since these symptoms are often caused by hormonal imbalance and poor circulation, stimulating acupoints with needles and moxa to improve blood flow is said to offer expected improvement.

In particular, warming acupoints around the lower abdomen and lower back can ease menstrual pain.

Also, as the autonomic nervous system becomes balanced, hormone secretion can stabilize, sometimes making the menstrual cycle more regular.

If you’re troubled by gynecological concerns related to coldness, or want to regulate your condition naturally, we’d love for you to consider acupuncture.

Stress Reduction

Stress accumulates in daily life without us realizing it.

Its effects can cause shoulder and neck stiffness, headaches, and a restless mind.

Acupuncture has an effect of easing this kind of stress-related physical discomfort.

Stimulating acupoints promotes the secretion of hormones that encourage relaxation, making it easier to reach a calm state in both body and mind.

Also, because a relaxed period of time passes during treatment, that itself can lead to refreshment.

For those feeling discomfort due to stress, acupuncture can be said to be a treatment that lightens the mind.

For other benefits of acupuncture, see this article as well.

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What Is the Healing Response to Acupuncture?

After receiving acupuncture, you may temporarily feel body heaviness, drowsiness, or mild pain.

This is called the “healing response,” a temporary change that occurs as the body moves toward its original healthy state.

Acupuncture promotes blood and lymph flow, and as stagnant waste is expelled, you may temporarily feel discomfort, but in most cases this settles naturally within a few days.

This is a sign that the body is trying to restore normal balance, so it’s fine to just take it easy.

Don’t push yourself — drink plenty of water and pay attention to the changes in your body.

What Symptoms Occur with the Healing Response to Acupuncture?

So what kinds of symptoms actually occur with the healing response to acupuncture?

Here we introduce four representative symptoms.

Dizziness and Nausea

After receiving acupuncture, you may feel a floating dizziness or mild nausea.

This occurs because circulation suddenly improves and the body isn’t yet used to the change.

It tends to occur especially in those who normally have low blood pressure, or when treatment is received after staying in the same posture for a long time.

Standing up quickly right after treatment can cause unsteadiness, so try moving your body slowly.

Generally, symptoms settle by drinking plenty of water and resting without overexertion.

Headache

You may feel a headache after receiving acupuncture.

This is thought to occur as circulation is promoted and stagnant waste starts flowing out.

For those with strong shoulder or neck stiffness, the sudden improvement in circulation can make the head feel temporarily heavy.

Headaches from the healing response usually settle within a few hours to a day, but if it concerns you, please rest without overexertion.

Drinking warm tea or taking deep breaths to relax is also good.

Acne

After receiving acupuncture treatment, acne may appear on the face or back.

This occurs as waste accumulated in the body is expelled, and this too is temporary.

If skin trouble occurred due to digestive discomfort or hormonal imbalance, it’s common for acupuncture to regulate your overall condition, ultimately improving your skin state.

If acne concerns you, avoid touching it forcefully — gently care for your skin with moisturizing and watch how it develops.

Drowsiness

You may feel strong drowsiness after receiving acupuncture.

This occurs because treatment makes the parasympathetic nervous system more dominant, shifting the body into relaxation mode.

Those who normally carry stress or have ongoing sleep deprivation tend to feel more sleepy after treatment.

Since this is also evidence that the body is heading toward recovery, take it easy and wait for your condition to return.

Who Tends to Experience a Healing Response to Acupuncture?

Whether or not a healing response occurs from acupuncture varies from person to person.

Here we introduce traits of those who tend to experience it.

Those with Irregular Lifestyle Habits

Irregular meals or ongoing sleep deprivation can throw the body’s natural rhythm off balance.

Receiving acupuncture in this state may cause a temporary healing response as the body tries to restore normal balance.

You may suddenly feel strong drowsiness, or your digestive system may become more active, causing stomach rumbling.

Before receiving acupuncture, getting adequate rest and reviewing your lifestyle habits to reduce strain on your body can somewhat ease the healing response.

Those with Bodily Distortion

Poor posture or a disrupted bodily balance can make blood and lymph flow prone to stagnation.

For this reason, when circulation improves after acupuncture, you may temporarily feel heaviness or pain.

In particular, those with a hunched back or pelvic distortion may feel discomfort as the muscles try to return to their correct position after treatment.

Also, muscles that aren’t normally used can experience stimulation, sometimes causing symptoms resembling mild muscle soreness.

However, since the healing response gradually improves, there’s no need to worry too much.

Those with Accumulated Fatigue

Those with fatigue accumulated from work, housework, or stress also tend to experience a healing response after acupuncture.

This is because acupuncture regulates the autonomic nervous system, putting the body into recovery mode.

For example, you may feel strong drowsiness after treatment, or feel more fatigued than usual.

This is a sign the body is judging “now is the time to rest,” so please take proper rest without overexertion.

For Acupuncture, KADOMORI’s “Hedgehog Beauty Acupuncture” Is Recommended!

For those interested in beauty acupuncture, KADOMORI’s “Hedgehog Beauty Acupuncture” is recommended.

KADOMORI is a salon that has evolved the concept of beauty acupuncture, with particular acclaim for small-face care.

Its hallmark is precisely assessing the balance and movement of the facial muscles, performing treatment tailored to each individual.

Its approach following the flow of the expression muscles makes it easy to feel skin tightening and lifting.

The technical skill of instantly judging muscle firmness and fat condition to deliver pleasant stimulation is something truly unique to KADOMORI.

Why not experience a special treatment, a step beyond conventional beauty acupuncture?

Troubled by Physical Discomfort? Consult KADOMORI!

This article has detailed the healing response to acupuncture.

The healing response is a symptom that appears as the body heads in a good direction, so there’s no problem as long as you take it easy.

If you’re currently troubled by physical discomfort, please try KADOMORI’s Hedgehog Beauty Acupuncture.

For more on acupuncture, see this article as well.

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