Initial consultation & first treatment

Your first visit will last for 1 ½ hours.

Vida will have an informal discussion with you to gather various information through questioning and physical analysis:

• Questioning – on areas such as your past and present health, lifestyle, systems (e.g. sleep, digestion), medical and family history.
• Physical analysis – includes taking your pulse on both wrists, observing your tongue, feeling the temperature of your skin.

Obtaining this detail enables Vida to make a thorough diagnosis and develop your own personal treatment plan.

Following any questions you wish to ask, the session will be finished with a treatment.

Follow up treatments

Subsequent treatments last 45 minutes / 1 hour

How many sessions will I need?

Generally you will come weekly to begin with and as you improve, less frequently. Speed of improvement varies more according to the individual than to the nature of the complaint.

Treatment is the process of re-establishing your energy balance using the most appropriate technique for you. Energy flow is stimulated along the meridians (pathways of energy that run through the body) via one or more of these therapy techniques:

• Insertion of very fine, pre-sterilised, disposable, stainless steel needles into acupuncture points through the skin. There can be as few as 2 to 4. The needles are either retained for approximately 20 minutes or removed instantly.
• Applying warmth of a dried plant called moxa, on or near the skin
• Applying glass cups to the skin, where local suction is created
• Chinese massage call Tuina
• Gua sha, an instrument assisted technique of press-stroking a lubricated area of the skin

The needles are extremely fine. When inserted, the sensation is often described as a tingling or a dull ache. It’s rarely described as painful and lasts only 1 or 2 seconds.

Vida is a member of the British Acupuncture Council – the UK’s largest professional, self-regulatory body for the practice of traditional acupuncture – and following their codes of safe practice is adhered to as a matter of course.

The results of two independent surveys published in the British Medical Journal in 2011 (MacPherson et al, White et al, both BMJ September 2001) concluded that the risk of serious adverse reactions is less than 1 in 10,000. As a member of the British Acupuncture Council (MBAcC), Vida adheres to their stringent codes of safe practice as a matter of course.

The needles are single-use, sterile and are safely disposed of after use.

On occasion, responses to treatment include tiredness or mild dizziness, and very rarely minor bruising, however all such reactions are short-lived.

A 15 minute consultation is offered at no cost.

• Initial consultation with treatment: £65
• Subsequent treatments: £45 each

VW Refer a Friend

If you’re an existing patient who refers a friend:

• Your friend receives £5 off their initial consultation (with treatment): £60 (value £65)
• Once your friend has had their initial consultation, you will receive £5 off your next treatment: £40 (value £45)

Cancellation policy : If you are unable to keep an appointment, please let Vida know at least 24 hours in advance or the full fee will be charged if the session is not re-booked to another patient.