Acupuncture is a therapeutic modality that has stood the test of time due to its low risk and clinical effectiveness.
Using one's body mechanics, needle stimuli reset the body back to a state of health. Each treatment plan is customized to meet your specific health goals. At IHG, we maximize what acupuncture can provide by using a range of effective techniques and a comprehensive approach.
Holistic Healing Through Acupuncture
Explore the diverse approaches I practice, each thoughtfully tailored to promote balance, alleviate pain, and support your body’s natural healing abilities. From modern techniques to time-honored traditions, these methods are integrated into treatment to maximize results.
Sports Medicine Acupuncture
Amanda is a graduate of the Sports Medicine Acupuncture Certification Program (SMAC) based in San Diego, California, recognized for its exceptional standards in the assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of sports and orthopedic injuries. Her advanced training equips her to deliver comprehensive care that facilitates recovery, enhances athletic performance, and promotes overall well-being. As a former national-level gymnast, Amanda understands the physical and mental demands on the body and has personally experienced the benefits of acupuncture in maintaining fitness and managing pain.
Neurofunctional Acupuncture
Electrical stimulation is used to induce targeted physiological changes in the nervous system, modulating its activity and enhancing communication. The therapeutic approach aims to restore balance, promote self-regulation, and optimize the body’s intrinsic healing processes across multiple systems.
Traditional Chinese Medicine Acupuncture
With a deep appreciation for the ancient wisdom and art of acupuncture, IHG draws from acupuncture's origins and foundations and integrates traditional techniques into treatment, which aim to both understand and treat the underlying causes of imbalance. While acupuncture continues to evolve with modern science, its spirit and tradition remain as powerful and transformative today as they were centuries ago, guiding the body's innate healing process with both insight and reverence.
Focused Care for Your Health
Specialty
- Musculoskeletal Pain
- Spine and Disc Pain
- Post-Surgical Pain
- Radicular Pain
- Tendinopathy
- Paresthesia
- Headaches
Common Conditions (but not limited to)
- Fertility
- Smoking Cessation
Chronic Care Management
- Arthritis
- Parkinson’s
- Women's Health
Your Guide to Booking
At our practice, we understand that every individual has unique health needs. To help
make our treatments both effective and accessible, IHG offers a range of payment
options to support your journey to better health.
Invest in Your Health
Complementary and alternative medicine, at its core, aims to address both your immediate well-being and your fundamental health trajectory over a sustained period. Investing in your health today establishes a strong foundation for lifelong resilience, producing lasting changes that compound over time. This proactive investment ensures peak performance and function throughout all life domains, ensuring continued vitality for years to come.
Your Coverage, Our Care
Send Referral (if required)
If you are a UPMC patient, a doctor referral for acupuncture is required; please have it faxed to:
412-561-1750Await Confirmation
Allow up to 24 hours for insurance benefits to be uploaded on file, after which Integrative Health Group will reach out to schedule.
Affordable, Holistic Care for Lasting Wellness
Community acupuncture serves as an affordable, ongoing healthcare solution that maintains optimal quality of life. Through regular treatments that keep the body in balance, patients experience meaningful improvements in sleep quality, pain management, stress reduction, and overall vitality.
Frequently Asked Questions
Acupuncture has been most recognized for the following therapeutic responses:
Stress reduction
Anti-inflammatory response
Accelerates tissue healing
Pain relief
Changing our body functions is cumulative and happens over time. Acupuncture treatments equip you with a therapeutic tool to incorporate into your lifestyle to promote the longevity of your health by stimulating your natural ability to self-regulate and heal.
The NIH states, "Results from a number of studies suggest that acupuncture may help ease types of pain that are often chronic, such as low-back pain, neck pain, and osteoarthritis/knee pain, tension headaches and prevent migraine headaches. Therefore, acupuncture appears to be a reasonable option for people with chronic pain to consider."
Acupuncture has been identified to treat a wide variety of conditions and strengthen our overall response to ongoing stressors. Depending on your condition, Acupuncture may be used as a stand-alone or adjunct therapy along with primary care and or other therapeutic interventions.
On occasion, as the body is adjusting and becoming healthier, side effects may include fatigue, soreness, dizziness, and emotional release. Typically, this lasts 24 hours. Yes, acupuncture is safe when performed by a qualified and licensed practitioner. Board-certified licensed acupuncturists adhere to the highest standards of professional conduct to ensure the safety and efficacy of your treatment. Acupuncture is generally not painful. Patients may feel a slight sensation when the needles are inserted, but this is typically not painful.
It is recommended to wait and do acupuncture if you have the following:
1. Blood pressure higher than 160
2. In the midst of a health crisis
3. Under the influence of drugs and alcohol
4. Feeling sick or excessively tired
All cautions such as age, cancer, pregnancy, chronic diseases, blood thinners, surgeries, medications, are considered, and the treatment is adjusted accordingly.
Acupuncture jump-starts our self-healing ability by delivering precise mechanical signaling in the body that induces a physiological response. Acupuncture needle stimuli promote the release of endorphins and blood flow, move lymph, boost homeostasis, and improve the integrity of tissues. Research has found some acupuncture treatments to produce an analgesic effect (decrease pain) mediated partly by endogenous opioids in the hypothalamus, midbrain, and spinal cord.
The central mechanism behind acupuncture needling is it helps to normalize and balance the way our body functions by stimulating the part of the brain that controls several systems, such as the musculoskeletal, nervous, endocrine, immune, and cardiovascular systems. Research shows that the brain and spinal cord react positively to acupuncture stimulation, which induces systemic benefits.
Clinical evidence shows that acupuncture stimulation normalizes the activities of the sympathetic and parasympathetic systems to restore optimal homeostasis, a state of balance among all the body systems needed for the body to survive and function correctly.
It is recommended to have something light to eat 1-2 hours before getting treated.
After an acupuncture session, you may feel relaxed or energized. You may feel some soreness, similar to working out. For some, there is instant relief; for others, improvements are more noticeable as the days progress. In the first 48 hours, the body is adjusting the most; it's recommended to take it easy. Drinking plenty of water and getting plenty of rest can help maximize acupuncture's benefits.
Acupuncture during pregnancy should be performed by a qualified, licensed practitioner with experience in treating pregnant patients. With a high success rate in assisting with IUI, IVF, and natural conception, IHG provides care that optimizes fertility while ensuring safety throughout pregnancy.