 Being scared of needles is one of the top reasons people don't come see acupuncturists and look it's entirely valid because acupuncture is not always comfortable. I would personally say 90% of the needles that go in you don't even feel and they're comfortable but a small percentage may feel weird for the first time and some may even feel sharp but then it goes away after the insertion. So what do you do if all your friends are recommending acupuncture for your condition and you're terrified of needles? Well in this video I want to share a few alternatives to how you can still get treated and get results without having to get needled. Hey I'm Alex Hine author of the book Master of the Day current doctoral student in traditional or classical Chinese medicine. Now I've also included a free download there which is five daily rituals to help you add 10 years to your life with Chinese medicine. It's the very first link in the description box so click that and check it out. Now the first way you can still get treated by a Chinese medicine doctor is using non-insertive techniques. So not only can we do acupressure what I find to be more effective is tation work. So the tation is a non-insertive tool i.e. it's not a needle it's like a basically a metal gold or silver tool that's shaped almost like a massage tool that is one of the most ancient forms of needles used in traditional Chinese medicine. Again it doesn't have a sharp point it's rounded and it doesn't go in your skin it's just pressing the metal onto the surface of your skin and it often can have a similar effect as acupuncture. Now tation work is really common in Japanese style acupuncture because the Japanese styles are extremely soft and extremely gentle. Historically it's probably been the most gentle method of doing acupuncture. So a person who knows how to use tation you can actually contact your practitioner to ask them if they practice tation work. They can actually do the same treatment it'll be a little bit more manual and it'll take a bit more time but they'll do the same points they would normally do by holding the tation or massaging it into the local area. So that's one option. Now the second option is catapulting off of what I just said is to see a practitioner that also knows or practices Japanese style acupuncture. For whatever reason historically Japanese style acupuncture has developed the most gentle form of acupuncture to the point where they will literally just tap the needle in and leave it. There'll be no manipulation they won't insert it further they won't try to go deeper into the body they just tap the needle in and that's the depth they want. They also use significantly thinner needles which are a higher gauge even as high as like 42 or 44. So these needles are so thin that they're even much thinner than a human hair and they need a tube to even be inserted because they're so thin and they're so delicate you won't even really feel those at all. Now of course the third option is that you can see a practitioner that also is well studied in herbs and if they're well versed in herbs they may have an herb focused acupuncture appointment that you can make where they just do an intake and they just prescribe herbs in the formula. So you'll get results with the formula you may not get results right then because you're not getting the benefit of acupuncture as immediate effect but you'll also be able to be treated as opposed to getting needles and maybe feeling discomfort or something you're not totally comfortable with. So there's actually a lot of options in a practitioner that's flexible they can do more Japanese style which is very very very shallow insertion they can do tation work which is on the superficial level of the skin non-insertive or they can just give you herbs so there's a lot of other ways that they can get you results if you're scared of needles. Now don't forget I've included that free guide there below the five daily rituals to add 10 years to your life with traditional or classical trainings medicine it is the first link in the description otherwise I will see you in the next video and you can check out my last two right there and right there