Chinese Medicine is a complete medical healing system and requires a thorough review of your current and past medical history for accurate diagnosis. During your first Chinese medicine visit, you will be asked a series of questions regarding your daily health and how you personally experience your symptoms. There will be time devoted to Chinese medical assessment techniques (such as pulse and tongue diagnosis), discussion of your Chinese medical diagnosis and a restorative acupuncture treatment which may include moxibustion, cupping and/or sotai. Your health practitioner may also make diet suggestions, give exercise guidance or send you home with some tips to reduce healing time. The first visit is 90 minutes in duration and follow-up visits are 75 minutes.

Your first visit with Dr. Hardy will be one and a half hours in duration. This time will be used to discuss current health presentations and also review past medical history, family history, allergies, diet and any medications or supplements you may be taking. She intends to get a clear picture of where you have been and where you are now. Dr. Hardy will ask various questions to try to elucidate patterns and connections between various body systems, using naturopathic, Chinese medicine and conventional medicine philosophies. Based on your complaints, she will perform a targeted physical exam and suggest lab tests to confirm diagnosis if indicated.

Dr. Hardy will listen to your personal priorities for medical treatment and get a feeling for which treatment therapies will work best for your personality and medical condition. She will also begin to get to know you as a person and create a partnership with you to as you achieve your health goals. You will be handed a comprehensive treatment plan to take home with you, with information on when to have a follow-up appointment.

Return visits are 60-90 minutes in duration, depending if you stay for acupuncture. Dr. Hardy will check-in with you to assess your progress and modify your treatment plan as indicated for the first section of the appointment. Then, you will receive an acupuncture treatment and lie comfortably for 30 minutes with relaxing music and a heat lamp if desired. Acupuncture is a great part of the return visit as it promotes the body’s ability to heal itself and speeds up recovery time. One of the main reasons Dr. Hardy incorporates acupuncture into her practice is because she loves having a tool to help her patients feel better in the office, quickly and effectively.
If you prefer not to do acupuncture, the whole 60 minutes with Dr. Hardy will be be spent discussing your naturopathic plan and doing any troubleshooting necessary.