Gavin Martin-Rentz

Entrance is between "Fayshell" and "Baby Village". Clinic is up a flight of stairs, on the first level. Rooms are through the first door on the right. Please make yourself comfortable in the waiting room. NOTE: If you have mobility issues that make stairs challenging, please contact me and I may be able to refer you to a more accessible clinic. PUBLIC TRANSPORT: within short walking distance of Bondi Junction train station and bus interchange. PARKING: Free 2hr parking at Westfield and 1hr free parking at Eastgate shopping centres.

First of all, the needles used in acupuncture are much, much finer than anything you'd get at the doctor. It is normal to feel a sensation with acupuncture, such as a dull ache, heaviness or sometimes a muscle twitch, but all treatments are tailored to you and your tolerance. I work with a lot of people who are sensitive or nervous about needles and so have developed gentle approaches.

We will start by talking about what's brought you in as well as some other important general health and history questions. Then there will then be some assessments that we'll run through together, which may include any combination of checking your wrist pulse, looking at your tongue, palpating muscles, joints and abdomen, range of motion tests and muscle tests. Once we have our baseline and I have a working idea of what we need to do, we'll start with the acupuncture treatment. Typically we'll start with points below your elbows and knees, so make sure you wear loose fitted clothing. If you're coming in for pain or an injury, I may also decide to use points in the affected area. I will explain everything to you so that you know what's happening and why the whole time. At the end of the treatment, we'll come up with a treatment plan to help you get back on track.

Generally, we will get feedback early on in treatment whether you're responding or not. Often, we will be able to observe some fairly immediate changes during the treatment, though because acupuncture has an accumulative effect, I would want to see how you respond over at least a series of 4 sessions or so. Within that time, we should have a good idea of how you're responding and if acupuncture will be helpful for you. From there we can figure out a plan to get you back on track, keeping in mind more chronic and complex conditions will take longer to recover from than more recent or acute issues.

Yes, though there will be certain points to avoid as these points can be used at the end of pregnancy to help induce labour. If you are pregnant at any stage, it is important that you let your acupuncturist know. Having said that, acupuncture can be very helpful for a variety of issues that may come up during pregnancy.