How do I know if ACHE Institute of Houston is the right fit for me?

We understand that chronic painful conditions have a significant impact in your life and the last thing you need is to wait for an appointment, drive to an office and have a full consultation to find out the doctor cannot offer the treatment you need. If your doctor referred you to us then he or she thinks that we have something to offer to your treatment. If you found us directly or are unsure if we are a good fit, we are happy to arrange a complimentary telemedicine visit with Dr. Garcia Jacques to discuss how we can help you. Please review our telemedicine statement to find out more about this type of visit. To schedule this type of visit, you can do so on the patient portal online, or call our office and request a telemedicine meet an greet appointment.

*Please note, the system requires a credit card on file to access the secure telemedicine virtual office but you will not be charged for this type of appointment. 

I already had acupuncture and it did not help me, why should I try again with another provider?

Medical Acupuncture is just like any other medical treatment in which there is a science and an art to it and it is operator dependent. A correct diagnosis is essential for treatment response. There are several ways to diagnose in Traditional Chinese Medicine and based on studies there is a high variability on the TCM diagnosis between expert providers on the same patient. Are they all wrong? Let’s use a western medicine example. A patient who has high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes is not responding optimally to the antihypertensive, the cholesterol lowering pill and the insulin prescribed by the cardiologist and the endocrinologist respectively. This patient then goes to the family doctor and the doctor explains what metabolic syndrome is and how being overweight and having a sedentary lifestyle influences the 3 conditions. After a diet and exercise regimen, the patient starts to respond to the treatments. Were the specialists diagnoses wrong? This is an overly simplistic example of how focusing on the root of the problem is essential and also in the same overly simplistic way it attempts to explain how experts can have a correct diagnoses and proper treatment but yielding limited results.

How many acupuncture sessions are needed to obtain benefits from this therapy?

This question has a complicated answer due to the several levels of response to acupuncture. The easy answer is that we want you to leave after the first treatment realizing that acupuncture can help your body heal. The complexity starts when trying to answer the question of how many treatments you will need to obtain long lasting results and if there will be a need for maintenance therapy.

The simplistic response is, the longer the condition has affected you, the more time it will take to treat it. Then again, since we want to treat the root of the problem, as well as the symptoms, this adds another layer of complexity. As an example, perhaps you recently developed generalized joint pain. Therefore, since it recently started it will be easy to treat? May be! Only if the source of, let’s call it inflammation, has recently started then yes. Unfortunately the root of the problem sometimes has been there for a much longer time. Take the example of diabetes. According to this article by the American diabetes association, the onset of non-insulin dependent diabetes occurs on average 4 to 7 years before the actual diagnosis is made.

But, to be practical, we want to see progressive changes in the first 5 sessions. If there are no changes during this time, then this mode of therapy is unlikely to yield long term results with continuous treatment by us.

Do you offer a corporate wellness service?

Yes! This is going to be one of our focus to promote a healthier lifestyle in the workplace. We are happy to host a workshop or series in one of our meeting rooms or coordinate an event in your headquarters. We will be happy to work with you to develop a tailored program that benefits your staff. The topics can range from dietary aspects of inflammatory diseases, acupressure techniques for acute symptoms, meditation and relaxation techniques, ergonomics, short exercises at the work place for specific conditions (ie. Low back pain, neck pain etc).

We are happy to arrange personalized treatment plans for your staff on an individual basis as well. If you have something in mind that we don't mention here, please contact us and we will help you arrange it. 

What is the purpose of the injections?

Considering only therapeutic procedures and not the diagnostic procedures, our goal is to either decrease the inflammation in the painful area or in the case of nerve blocks, to decrease the transmission of pain signals. This is translated into a significant decrease in the painful symptoms. For the most part these effects are time limited which can range from days to years depending on the therapy and individual response. We use this opportunity of improved pain to work on the source of the problem. Then we complement your therapy during this time with work on physical exercise, weight loss, smoking cessation and other factors that will maintain your quality of life and help decrease the pain long term.

What injections do you offer to help with pain?

At ACHE Institute of Houston we offer most modern injections that have shown benefit to patients when the benefit outweighs the risks of the procedure. This includes the well-known procedures such as trigger point injections, “Botox” blocks, epidural injections, sacroiliac and other joint injections (such as knee, shoulder, hip etc), nerve blocks and radiofrequency ablation to extend the effects of a nerve block. We have extensive experience on the newer knee and hip articular (joint) nerve branches ablation for extended pain relief of these joints. This can be done to prevent or delay surgery and in the case of persistent pain after joint replacement surgery.

We also offer the less common blocks for cancer related pain, sympathetic nerve blocks for certain diagnoses like CRPS/RSD, trigeminal or sphenopalatine nerve block for facial pain and blocks for pelvic pain.

We are evaluating the literature about the following therapies as treatment options for our patients but are not currently offered: Neural therapy and regenerative medicine therapy like Platelet rich plasma injections (PRP).