Fayetteville — Cynthia Jones is no stranger to the healing business — for 25 years she worked as a doctor of internal medicine. But one day she felt she would like to do something more alternative to help people with their mental and physical ailments, so she decided to study the ancient practice of acupuncture. Recently, she has opened an office in Fayetteville for those in the area who are interested in looking for ways to treat and alleviate certain medical conditions.
“I had been doing Western medicine for 25 years and I decided I was kind of tired of it,” Jones said. “I wanted to do something different and more alternative, not just handing out prescriptions … I want people to come here and feel relaxed.”
And four years ago, Jones got her acupuncture certification from the Helms Medical Institute, a school that provides education for physicians in the art and science of acupuncture.
Acupuncture is an ancient Chinese practice of using needles to activate different points on the body to bring about a wide variety of positive outcomes. Jones said she can provide body acupuncture, as well as auricular acupuncture, or acupuncture on the ear.
Acupuncture can help with relief for many common medical problems — anxiety, insomnia, muscle strains, pain relief, arthritis, smoking cessation, hypertension and allergies to name a few. Small needles are put into these pressure points on meridians of the body or on the ear and left in for 20 to 30 minutes, said Jones, and the main point of each session is to relax.
“It’s amazing what these needles can do,” said Jones. “There’s a whole body of medicine now that is based on the relaxation response. All of these modalities are working to get people to be more in the moment and focus on what’s going on now rather than what was going on earlier that upset you.”
continued — Typically, a new patient will first be seen for an intake appointment, which includes questions about medical history, medications, diagnosed ailments and family medical history, so Jones can assess which pressure points will be best to use to treat a certain medical problem. After the initial appointment, a patient can come for follow-up sessions to continue treatment.
While acupuncture can help relieve some symptoms, Jones said that she still encourages her patients to seek help from a medical doctor for serious problems.
“I think being a physician, I approach it a little differently,” said Jones. “I can talk to them [a patient] about medical problems, their medications and tests that have been done. After listening to people, I’m qualified to say ‘I think you need to be with a doctor.’”
Jones said she believes the prices for her acupuncture sessions are very doable. An intake appointment — which lasts about 1 hour — is $95. Follow-up individual sessions are $65. Jones’s practice also has the capacity for community acupuncture, which last around 20 minutes and patients have to be willing to sit in a room with another patient. Community acupuncture sessions cost $45.
Jones office is located in the annex of the Peak Family Dentistry building at 6965 Route 92 in Fayetteville and is currently open on Mondays and Wednesdays. For more information about Jones’ practice, or to set up an appointment, call 427-1414.
