Acupuncture on the Upper West Side: A Neuroscience-Informed Approach

I'm Annalisa Brown, L.Ac., and I've been practicing acupuncture in New York City since 2016. My approach combines traditional acupuncture with motor point acupuncture, electroacupuncture, Pain Reprocessing Therapy principles and other techniques when they're appropriate.

Most of the people who find me aren't looking for acupuncture because everything feels great. Something hurts. The migraines are back. An old injury is acting up. Sleep is a mess. Their body seems to have changed in midlife. Or they've been through the medical system, ruled out the scary things, and still don't feel like themselves.

 

That's where we start.

 

What can acupuncture help with?

Pain is a large part of my practice, including back, neck, shoulder and knee pain, sciatica, headaches and migraines, and persistent pain that hasn't responded as expected to other treatment.

I also work with people dealing with stress, sleep problems, digestive symptoms and some of the changes that can come with perimenopause and menopause.

Sometimes acupuncture is the primary treatment. Sometimes it works alongside physical therapy, medication, psychotherapy, medical treatment or other care.

I'm not interested in pretending acupuncture is the answer to everything. I'm interested in figuring out whether it's a useful part of the answer for you.

 

How does acupuncture work?

The most accurate answer is: we understand some of it, but not all of it.

Traditional Chinese medicine developed its own system for understanding the body long before modern neuroscience existed. That framework still informs how I evaluate and treat patients.

Modern research gives us another way to look at what may be happening. Acupuncture appears to affect nervous-system activity and may also have effects in the tissues where needles are inserted. Research suggests it can influence pain processing, and clinical studies support acupuncture as a treatment option for several kinds of chronic pain.

I don't think we need to force thousands of years of Chinese medicine into a single modern explanation—or make scientific claims that the research can't support yet.

What matters to me clinically is what changes.

Does the pain decrease? Does a muscle move or activate differently? Can you turn your head farther? Are the headaches less frequent? Are you sleeping better? Can you do something this week that you couldn't comfortably do last week?

Those changes help guide what we do next.

 

Traditional acupuncture and motor point acupuncture

Not every patient gets the same treatment.

Traditional acupuncture allows me to look beyond the painful body part. Your sleep, digestion, energy, stress level, temperature, menstrual or menopausal changes and other seemingly unrelated symptoms can give me useful information about what's happening as a whole.

For musculoskeletal problems, I may also use motor point acupuncture.

Motor points are specific areas associated with the nerve supply to a muscle. By stimulating selected points—sometimes with a small electrical current—I can work more directly with muscle tone and neuromuscular function.

That's particularly useful when the place that hurts may not be the whole story.

A painful shoulder, for example, may involve muscles that are overworking, muscles that aren't contributing enough, compensation after an old injury, or a nervous system that has become increasingly protective of the area.

Instead of simply asking, “Where does it hurt?” I'm also asking, “Why is this area having to work this way?”

 

What about chronic or persistent pain?

Pain is protective. We need it.

But pain and tissue damage aren't always the same thing.

Sometimes an injury heals but pain persists. Sometimes symptoms fluctuate dramatically even though the underlying anatomy hasn't changed. And sometimes the nervous system becomes increasingly sensitive and protective after months or years of pain.

When that seems to be part of the picture, I may incorporate principles from Pain Reprocessing Therapy (PRT) alongside acupuncture.

That doesn't mean the pain is imaginary or “all in your head.” The pain is real. It means we may need to work not only with the tissues and muscles, but also with the way the nervous system is interpreting and responding to signals from the body.

 

What should I expect at an acupuncture appointment?

Your first appointment begins with a conversation.

I want to know what brought you in, what you've already tried, what makes the problem better or worse, and what else has been happening in your body. If you're coming for pain, I'll often assess movement and muscle function as part of the process.

Then we'll decide what makes sense to treat.

Acupuncture needles are extremely thin. Some you may barely notice; others may produce a brief sensation of pressure, heaviness, warmth or a small muscle response. If I use electroacupuncture, the stimulation is adjusted to a level that is appropriate and comfortable for you.

Once the needles are in, you'll usually rest on the treatment table for about 20 minutes.

Depending on what I'm treating, I may also incorporate techniques such as cupping, gua sha, manual therapy or photobiomodulation.

 

How many acupuncture treatments will I need?

This is one of the most common questions I get, and there isn't one number that applies to everybody.

A new, relatively simple problem may respond quickly. Something that has been present for years usually deserves more time.

For many conditions, I recommend beginning with a short series of treatments close enough together that we can actually evaluate whether acupuncture is helping. We then reassess.

If you're improving, we decide how much more treatment makes sense and begin spacing visits out as appropriate. If nothing meaningful is changing, I don't want you coming indefinitely just because “acupuncture takes time.” We reconsider the plan.

My goal is not to keep you in treatment forever.

It's to help you get to the point where you need me less.

 

Is acupuncture safe?

Acupuncture is generally considered safe when performed by a properly trained practitioner using sterile, single-use needles. Minor bruising, tenderness or a small amount of bleeding can occasionally occur.

Before treatment, tell me about medical conditions, pregnancy, medications—particularly blood thinners—implanted electrical devices, recent surgeries or anything else you think may affect treatment.

And acupuncture shouldn't be used to avoid appropriate medical evaluation. If something about your symptoms makes me think you need another kind of care, I'll tell you.

 

Not sure whether acupuncture makes sense for you?

You don't need to know which kind of acupuncture you need before you come in. That's my job.

If you've been dealing with pain, migraines, persistent symptoms or a body that simply isn't behaving the way it used to, we can start by talking about what's happening and whether my approach makes sense for you.

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Book either your first appointment or a free consultation here: 

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