C3 Wellness Spa
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Acupuncture is coming to C3 Wellness Spa. We are hiring a North Carolina Licensed Acupuncturist now, and this page is here so you know what to expect when the room opens. Call and we will take your name, then tell you the day we can book you in.
(919) 616-7868. 3001 Hillsborough Street, Raleigh. Open until 8pm on weeknights.
Acupuncture is not bookable yet. We are hiring a North Carolina Licensed Acupuncturist for this room. Everything below is what the treatment will be when it opens. Call and we will put you on the list and ring you first.
Join the listYour first session
If you have never had needles, the not-knowing is worse than the appointment. Here is the whole thing in order.
A first appointment runs sixty minutes, and the intake happens inside that hour rather than on top of it. Follow-ups are shorter. Wear loose clothing, eat something beforehand, and give yourself somewhere quiet to go afterwards rather than a meeting.
The needle question
Mostly no, and the reason is the needle itself. An acupuncture needle is solid rather than hollow, and thin enough that several of them fit inside the bore of the needle used to draw blood. It is closer to a stiff hair than to an injection.
Here is what you actually feel, in three parts.
If you are genuinely frightened of needles, say so when you call. The session can be run with fewer needles, shallower insertion, and the first one placed somewhere you can watch. Nobody is going to talk you out of being nervous.
Tell your practitioner if you are pregnant, taking blood thinners, or fitted with a pacemaker. Each of those changes which points are used and how.
Who is holding the needle
Acupuncture is a licensed profession in North Carolina, regulated by the North Carolina Acupuncture Licensing Board under Article 30 of Chapter 90 of the General Statutes.
The route to that license runs roughly like this.
Under G.S. 90-458, the only titles a licensee may use in this state are Licensed Acupuncturist and Acupuncturist. The same statute says the license "does not by itself entitle a person to identify oneself as a doctor or physician."
You will still find North Carolina practices advertising the word physician in an acupuncture title. North Carolina reserves Licensed Acupuncturist and Acupuncturist to licensees, and says plainly that a licence does not by itself entitle anyone to call themselves a doctor or a physician. We use L.Ac. because that is the title the state recognises.
You can check any North Carolina license on the licensing board's public register before your appointment. Ask to see it at the desk if you would rather.
Physicians and chiropractors may also perform needling under their own licenses, sometimes after a weekend course. The training gap between that and a three year programme is large. Ask what the person treating you is licensed as, and it is a fair question anywhere.
What it is used for
Acupuncture attracts overclaiming, so here is the state of it without the sales pitch.
Chronic musculoskeletal pain is the strongest case: low back, neck, knee and shoulder. Large pooled analyses show acupuncture beating no treatment clearly, and beating sham needling by a smaller margin that researchers are still arguing about. Headache and migraine prevention sit in similar territory. Nausea from chemotherapy and after surgery is among the better established findings.
People also book acupuncture for sleep, stress, digestive complaints, menstrual pain and fertility support. Trials in these areas tend to be smaller and their results less consistent. That does not make the treatment useless, and it does mean nobody can quote you a reliable number.
You cannot fully blind someone to a needle, and you cannot fully blind the practitioner at all. Sham controls are imperfect, which is why studies with the same data get read two different ways. Anyone quoting you certainty about acupuncture is skipping this part.
Nobody at C3 Wellness Spa will tell you acupuncture cures a named disease, because it would not be true. If your condition needs a physician, see one. Acupuncture alongside medical care is a different proposition from acupuncture instead of it.
On safety: serious adverse events are rare when a licensed practitioner uses sterile single-use needles. The usual outcomes are minor bruising, brief soreness at a point, and occasional light-headedness.
How long it takes
There is no fixed number, and be wary of anyone who gives you one before examining you. The patterns below are what research protocols and practice tend to look like.
Responses vary more than most treatments. Some people notice a shift after the first session. Some notice nothing until the third or fourth. Some never respond at all, and finding that out in six sessions rather than twenty is a genuinely useful result.
Agree a review point at the start. Decide together how many sessions you will run before you both look at whether it is working. That is why the packages are sold in sixes and twelves rather than open-ended.
What it costs
Two structures run alongside each other: standard sessions with packages, and the shorter Flex Pass. Read both before you call, because they are priced differently.
| Acupuncture | What it covers | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Initial visit | First appointment, including intake | $160 |
| Follow-up visit | Per session | $120 |
| Package | 6 visits | $600 |
| Package | 12 visits | $1,080 |
| Flex Pass | Six 30 minute visits | $600 |
| Flex Pass | Twelve 30 minute visits | $1,080 |
| Flex Pass first visit | Not included in the pass | $100 |
The Flex Pass first visit sits outside the pass, so budget $100 on top of the pass price rather than inside it. A six-visit package works out at $100 a session against $120 paid one at a time.
Confirm the current rate when you call. Acupuncture is booked by phone rather than through the online system, so the front desk quotes you before you commit to anything.
Paying for it
Coverage for acupuncture is narrower than for physical therapy, and it is not the flat no that most spa sites imply. Four separate answers apply.
That last point is the one that changes the maths for most people. Your HSA and FSA money was set aside before tax, so a $120 follow-up costs you meaningfully less than $120 of take-home pay. If you have been paying cash for acupuncture, you have been using post-tax money for no reason.
If your administrator asks for documentation, request a superbill at checkout and file it yourself.
Booking
It will not be in the online scheduling system, so calling will be the way to get an appointment. Until the acupuncturist starts, that same call puts you on the list instead.
Call (919) 616-7868. Lines are open Mon to Fri, 8am to 8pm, Saturday 9am to 6pm, and Sunday 12pm to 6pm. Weekday mornings are the quickest to get someone.
Have this ready when the room opens: what you want treated and how long it has been going on, any medications you take, and a word if you are pregnant, on blood thinners or fitted with a pacemaker.
Everything else at C3 Wellness Spa books online, including massage, facials, physical therapy and the salt booth.
Before you call
Mostly no. An acupuncture needle is solid rather than hollow and thin enough that several fit inside the bore of a needle used to draw blood. Most points register as a tap or as nothing; a few on the hands and feet sting for a second. Once the needles are in you may feel a dull ache, heaviness or warmth, which practitioners call de qi. Sharp or electric sensations are not normal, and the acupuncturist at C3 Wellness Spa in Raleigh will adjust or remove the needle if you say so.
Most commercial plans exclude it, so assume yours does unless the plan documents say otherwise. There are real exceptions. Medicare covers acupuncture for chronic low back pain, and the VA covers it under its Whole Health system with prior authorisation. Acupuncture is also HSA and FSA eligible in every case. C3 Wellness Spa in Raleigh will check your plan free of charge on (919) 616-7868 before you book a course.
Yes, for chronic low back pain, and only for that. Medicare has covered it since 21 January 2020 under National Coverage Determination 30.3.3, which allows up to 12 visits in 90 days, 8 additional visits if you are improving, and no more than 20 visits in a year. Treatment stops if you are not improving. Call C3 Wellness Spa in Raleigh on (919) 616-7868 to have your own coverage checked before booking.
Yes. IRS Publication 502 names acupuncture directly in its list of includable medical expenses, so HSA and FSA cards work for it without argument. C3 Wellness Spa in Raleigh accepts both at the front desk. Because that money was set aside before tax, a $120 follow-up session costs you less than $120 of take-home pay. Ask for a superbill at checkout if your administrator wants documentation.
There is no fixed number. Recent, acute problems are commonly treated weekly for four to six weeks, then reassessed. Chronic problems usually need eight to twelve sessions before you can judge whether it works for you. Responses vary widely: some people notice a change after the first session, some after the fourth, and some never respond at all. C3 Wellness Spa in Raleigh sells packages in sixes and twelves so you have a built-in review point.
At C3 Wellness Spa in Raleigh, an initial acupuncture visit is $160 and follow-up sessions are $120. Packages are $600 for six visits and $1,080 for twelve. A separate Flex Pass covers six 30 minute visits for $600 or twelve for $1,080, and the first Flex Pass visit costs $100 and is not included in the pass. Confirm the current rate when you call, since acupuncture is booked by phone.
No. Acupuncture is not in the online scheduling system, so it is booked by phone on (919) 616-7868. Lines are open Mon to Fri 8am to 8pm, Saturday 9am to 6pm and Sunday 12pm to 6pm. Everything else at C3 Wellness Spa in Raleigh books online, including massage, facials, physical therapy and the salt booth.
A practitioner licensed by the North Carolina Acupuncture Licensing Board under Article 30 of Chapter 90 of the General Statutes. The route runs through a three year postgraduate programme at an ACAOM-accredited college, national board examinations set by the NCCAOM, Clean Needle Technique certification, and forty hours of continuing education every two years. Under G.S. 90-458 the only permitted titles in this state are Licensed Acupuncturist and Acupuncturist, and the license does not by itself allow anyone to call themselves a doctor or physician. North Carolina reserves the titles Licensed Acupuncturist and Acupuncturist to licensees, and states plainly that a licence does not by itself entitle anyone to call themselves a doctor or a physician. Acupuncture at C3 Wellness Spa in Raleigh is performed by a North Carolina Licensed Acupuncturist.
A first appointment at C3 Wellness Spa in Raleigh runs sixty minutes, with the intake inside that hour. You talk through sleep, digestion, pain, stress and medications for ten to fifteen minutes, then your pulse and tongue are examined. You lie down clothed with forearms and lower legs uncovered, and eight to twenty needles go in. You rest with them in place for twenty to thirty minutes, and they come out in under a minute. Wear loose clothing and eat something beforehand.
The better supported uses are chronic musculoskeletal pain in the low back, neck, knee and shoulder, headache and migraine prevention, and nausea from chemotherapy or after surgery. Evidence for sleep, stress, digestive complaints and menstrual pain is thinner and less consistent. Nobody at C3 Wellness Spa in Raleigh will tell you acupuncture cures a named disease, and if your condition needs a physician you should be seeing one.
Answer a few questions and we will tell you where we would start you, and why. It takes about thirty seconds and nothing you pick is sent anywhere.
Acupuncture is coming to Hillsborough Street. Call and we will take your name, then ring you the week we can book you in. Everything else here is bookable today.