Ashley Graham does acupuncture every single day. Here's why you don't need to do the same.

Right now, it feels like a whole lot of celebrities are coming out of the woodwork to divulge on their health and 'wellness' routines. Oftentimes, the advice given is considered unhelpful and quite harmful, at least according to experts. 

This week, we've heard from world-renowned model Ashley Graham.

On TikTok, she shared a video about how she has begun using acupuncture. No dramas there.

Then it got very Hollywood. 

Watch: a look back at Ashley Graham's TED Talk on being plus size in the fashion industry. Post continues below. 

"Welcome to wellness week," she began her TikTok.

"My acupuncturist is staying with me because she knows how much I love acupuncture. So we decided to needle me every day for like two to three hours a day. Basically to experiment on what it does to my traps, my face, my butt, my quads, shins and my feet."

She explained that she was getting acupuncture as part of her 'postpartum wellness' routine, as her pregnancies had changed her body. 

Graham and her husband have three boys together – one son born in 2020, and twin boys in 2021. 

In the TikTok, Graham then went on to share her acupuncture set-up, including a video of her getting traditional acupuncture and electroacupuncture, which is where a small electric current is passed between pairs of acupuncture needles. A Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioner was administering the acupuncture. 

@theashleygraham TW: needles!!! ⚠️ As some of you know, I am OBSESSED with acupuncture and I am lucky enough to have my friend Sandra (@LANSHIN ♬ vlog, chill out, calm daily life(1370843)

In the caption, Graham then said: "I am OBSESSED with acupuncture. I can't emphasise enough how these practices are my holy grail. I guarantee they will work wonders for every single body."

It's the reference to 'guarantee' and the dissemination of what many perceive to be health advice, that has left a sour taste. 

The Australian Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine Association (AACMA) is the peak professional organisation in Australia for Chinese medicine practitioners – including acupuncturists. For the past four decades, they've worked to advance the way Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is viewed by Australia's health system and the public. 

Speaking to Mamamia, AACMA President Waveny Holland says it is celebrity examples like these that have the potential to negate the way TCM is seen. And it also presents a risk of misinformation being spread. 

"Acupuncture is a whole medical system, and people come to receive acupuncture because they have a medical condition," Holland explains. 

"Yes, there's such a thing as maintenance treatments, and acupuncture can have a positive effect on someone's overall wellbeing. But doing acupuncture every day for two or more hours is just ridiculous. And I can't understand what practitioner would even allow that to happen."

Ashley Graham speaks on getting acupuncture every day. Image: TikTok. 

Suffice to say, daily acupuncture is complete overkill.

"You need time between appointments, to let the treatment have its effect and heal so to speak. Chinese medicine is all about bringing balance back into the body, so if you're doing acupuncture every day, it's not necessarily creating an imbalance but it's certainly overtreatment."

When it comes to people of influence or those with an online following providing any form of health advice, it can leave the experts having to work ten times harder to combat the misinformation being spread.

"It actually makes my blood boil," says Holland.

"For a lot of people online, they care about making money and promoting things. The problem is that they're often not informed. And that makes me very sad and cross."

Another recent challenge Australia's acupuncturists have been experiencing is the rise of people offering acupuncture, without having the necessary accreditation.

"There are people who do a quick online course or watch a YouTube video and then start saying they do acupuncture. They can't say they're an acupuncturist, but they can skirt around regulations but saying they simply do acupuncture. We're a registered profession under the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law – that's why it's really important to look for guidance from experts," Holland explains.

So for anyone out there wondering if they need to do acupuncture for hours on end, every single day, in a bid to change one's body after birth – the answer is it is by no means necessary.

Feature Image: Instagram/TikTok/Mamamia. 

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