The Lane Cove rooms are at 2 Austin Street, directly opposite the Lane Cove Library and a few metres from Longueville Road. If you are coming from the village it is a walk of two or three minutes, and the parking behind the library is the easiest option in the middle of the day.
Lane Cove sends a particular mix of problems through the door. There are the desk-and-commute necks and low backs from St Leonards and the city, the shoulders and elbows of a suburb that plays a lot of tennis, and the knees and Achilles tendons that come with living on a hillside — the stairs down to Tambourine Bay and the streets off Burns Bay Road are their own kind of training load. Lane Cove also has a lot of people in their thirties and forties carrying small children, which is its own demand on a back.
A first appointment is mostly questions and movement testing: where the pain is, what makes it worse, what it stops you doing, and how it has behaved over weeks rather than days. From there you should leave knowing what is proposed, roughly how long it is expected to take, and what would mean changing the plan.
Worth bringing: any imaging or specialist letters you already have, a list of medications, and the shoes you actually walk or train in. If the pain is new and severe, follows a significant fall, or comes with numbness, weakness, fever or any change in bladder or bowel control, see a doctor first — that is a medical assessment, not a treatment question.
The nearest alternative if Lane Cove does not suit you is the Freshwater side, about 14 kilometres away across the Spit.
A first acupuncture appointment is easier with a simple plan. Here is what to prepare beforehand, how to speak up during the session and what to clarify before you leave.
Walking into a first acupuncture appointment with a sore lower back or a stiff neck can bring a mix of hope and nerves. Breaking the visit into three stages, before, during and after, makes it easier to know what to bring and what to ask.
Gather the details that help a practitioner understand your situation:
Fees, availability and booking arrangements are worth confirming directly with Dr Christine Shen, Acupuncturist, at the Freshwater clinic. If you have read information from clinics overseas, keep in mind that course lengths and booking requirements may be quite different here.
You are encouraged to talk. Describe what you feel as needles are placed, whether that is a dull ache, warmth or nothing much at all. If a position strains your back, ask for a pillow or a change. If something is unclear, ask Christine to explain it, and remember that you can ask to stop at any point.
Before you leave, check that you understand any advice about activity, rest or what to watch for. Ask when you should contact the clinic with a concern and what would be considered unusual.
It can help to tell the symptom apart from the outcome you hope for. The symptom may be lower back pain; the outcome might be getting through a workday with less discomfort, understanding the problem more clearly, or learning when to see your GP for further assessment. Ask how acupuncture will be reviewed for you and what would prompt a change of plan.
Preparation and honest communication are the foundations of a comfortable first visit. Everything else can be worked out together, one appointment at a time.
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