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One team plans your care across chiropractic, physical therapy, acupuncture and occupational therapy.

Physical TherapyRebuild strength and move without pain ChiropracticHands-on relief for back and neck pain AcupunctureEase pain and inflammation naturally Occupational TherapyGet back to everyday tasks

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Meet the team, read our latest articles or visit the clinic closest to you.

About UsMeet the team behind Thrive BlogArticles on pain, treatment and recovery CareersWork with our clinicians New Patient FormFill it out before your first visit Belmar616 Fifth Avenue, Belmar, NJ Freehold20 Thoreau Drive, Freehold, NJ

Entrance of Thrive Spine and Sports Rehab at 20 Thoreau Drive, Freehold

Acupuncture in Freehold, NJ

Sports Injuries and Pain

For the strain that is only half better

Thrive Spine and Sports Rehab provides acupuncture in Freehold, NJ at 20 Thoreau Drive in Poets Square. AJ Adamczyk, L.Ac., the acupuncturist who owns the practice, and Cheyenne Seonia, L.Ac., treat sports injuries, back and neck pain, headaches and joint pain. No referral is needed. Use the button below or call (732) 359-7440 and the front desk will check whether your plan covers acupuncture before you come in.

The Freehold clinic holds a 5.0 rating across 135 Google reviews. Most patients arrive with a hamstring that physical therapy got halfway better, a shoulder that aches after every throw, or a low back that seizes by the end of a desk day, and they want the stubborn last part to let go. A thin needle placed in the tight band of muscle gets it to release from the inside, where a stretch or a massage only works the surface.

Patient receiving electro-acupuncture on the ankle at Thrive Freehold, with leads clipped to the needles

Conditions

What acupuncture helps with

Acupuncture is most useful for muscle and tendon problems: tissue that has stayed tight or irritated long after the original injury should have healed. In Freehold that most often means:

Sports injuries: hamstring and calf strains, tendon pain in runners, and throwing-arm pain in pitchers and other overhead athletes
Lower back pain that tightens with sitting or lifting
Neck pain and the tension that runs down into the shoulders
Headaches and migraines that start in the neck and upper back
Shoulder, knee and joint pain, including rotator cuff pain

If your main problem is weakness, a joint that will not bend after surgery, or a movement you cannot do, needles are not the first tool. Start with physical therapy in Freehold and we will add acupuncture if the tissue calls for it.

Acupuncturist adjusting an electro-acupuncture stimulator connected to a patient's needles at Thrive Freehold

A Common Question

Dry needling or acupuncture?

Runners and lifters ask this more than anything else. The short version: dry needling is one technique inside acupuncture, and in Freehold both are done by the same two licensed acupuncturists. The longer version is in our post on what dry needling is.

What dry needling does

A needle goes straight into a trigger point, the knot in a muscle that hurts when pressed and refers pain elsewhere
The muscle twitches, then lets go. That twitch is the goal. It is brief and a little uncomfortable
Used on one specific area, such as a calf or a forearm
Expect soreness at the spot for a day or so

Ask for dry needling when one muscle is the whole problem.

What acupuncture adds

Needles at the sore spot and at points away from it, such as the lower leg or hand, chosen by how the nerves and muscles connect
Sometimes a light electrical current through the needles, which is the wired setup in the photos on this page
Used when pain has spread, has lasted months, or keeps coming back
Gentler on the day, with less of the twitch response

You do not have to pick. The acupuncturist decides at the first visit and often uses both in the same session.

Meet the Team

Two acupuncturists, one Freehold office

AJ Adamczyk, L.Ac.

A high school baseball injury sent AJ to an acupuncturist, and the result set his career. He holds a master's degree from the Eastern School of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine, treats musculoskeletal and sports injuries with neuro-functional acupuncture, developed the Electro-Acupuncture Institute, and owns Thrive.

Cheyenne Seonia, L.Ac.

Cheyenne is nationally board certified and licensed in New Jersey. She earned her Master of Science in Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine from Pacific College of Health and Science in New York, where she worked alongside medical staff at Columbia Presbyterian and the Institute for Family Health.

Read both bios on the team page

AJ Adamczyk, licensed acupuncturist and owner of Thrive Spine and Sports Rehab

Cheyenne Seonia, licensed acupuncturist at Thrive Freehold

No Surprises

What the first visit looks like

Four steps, in order. Nothing happens that was not explained first.

1. Talk, then test

Where it hurts, when it started, what makes it worse. Then a hands-on check of the muscles and joints involved and how they move. If it is not something needles can fix, you hear it here.

2. Needles, same visit

Thin needles into the muscles found in the exam, sometimes with a light current. You will feel a dull ache or a brief twitch when a needle finds a tight spot. Sharp pain means we adjust it.

3. A plan in plain words

How many visits, how far apart, and what to do between them. Clear before you leave, so you are not guessing at week two.

4. Fewer visits as it settles

Progress is measured against what you came in for: the run, the throw, the night of sleep. Visits taper as the improvement holds.

Tommy is a baseball pitcher who came in with rotator cuff pain. Acupuncture on the shoulder, combined with physical therapy in the same plan, settled it, and he is back pitching.

Tommy Kowaliwskyj

Baseball Pitcher

One Plan, One Chart

Four services, one building

Acupuncture rarely finishes a sports injury on its own. A muscle that has let go still needs to be loaded before you trust it on a trail, and that is physical therapy. A back that keeps tightening because a joint has stopped moving needs chiropractic. A wrist or hand that limits your work belongs with occupational therapy. All four are in the Freehold clinic, so the acupuncturist walks your plan across the hall and the records stay in one chart.

Closer to the shore? AJ also treats at our Belmar clinic. For how we use acupuncture across both clinics, see the acupuncture overview. Hours, directions and the rest of the Freehold team are on the Freehold location page.

Front entrance of the Thrive Freehold clinic at 20 Thoreau Drive

Before your first visit

Do I need a referral for acupuncture in New Jersey?

No. New Jersey lets you book an acupuncturist directly. Some insurance plans want a referral on file before they will pay for acupuncture, so tell the front desk which plan you have and they will check that along with your benefits before the first visit.

Does insurance cover acupuncture?

It depends on the plan. Thrive accepts Medicare, United Healthcare, Anthem and Cigna, and works with many other plans as an out-of-network provider, but whether a given plan covers acupuncture varies. Call (732) 359-7440 before your first visit and the front desk will verify your acupuncture benefits, so you know the cost first. The full list is on our insurance page.

Does acupuncture hurt?

Rarely. The needles are very thin. You may feel a dull ache, a brief twitch when a needle finds a tight muscle, or nothing at all. Dry needling produces more of the twitch and some soreness for a day after. Tell the acupuncturist if needles make you nervous and the first session goes slower.

How many sessions will I need?

It depends on how long you have had the problem. A strain from the last few weeks often settles in a few visits. Pain you have carried for a season or longer takes more. You get an estimate at the first visit, and it changes as you improve.

What is the difference between dry needling and acupuncture, and who can do each in New Jersey?

Dry needling puts a needle straight into a trigger point in one muscle to make it release. Acupuncture uses the same thin needles but also treats points away from the sore area and can add a light electrical current. In New Jersey, physical therapists may perform dry needling after extra training, and licensed acupuncturists may do both. At Thrive Freehold every needle, dry needling included, is placed by a licensed acupuncturist.

Can I have acupuncture and physical therapy on the same day?

Yes. Ask the front desk to book the two appointments back to back. For sports injuries it is a common pairing: the acupuncturist gets the muscle to let go, then the physical therapist loads it while it still moves well.

How do I choose an acupuncturist in Freehold?

Ask four things. Are they licensed in New Jersey and nationally board certified? Do they examine how you move before placing a needle? Do they treat sports injuries every week, so your injury is not a novelty? And will they tell you plainly when acupuncture is not the answer? Thrive Freehold answers yes to all four, and the clinic's 135 Google reviews are a fair place to check.

Where can I get acupuncture in Freehold?

Thrive Spine and Sports Rehab, 20 Thoreau Drive, Freehold, NJ 07728, in Poets Square. Patients come from Freehold Township, Manalapan, Howell, Marlboro and Colts Neck. Hours and a map are at the bottom of this page.

Freehold, New Jersey

It's Where Healing Meets Heart

Thrive's Freehold location is a multi-disciplinary clinic that provides a wide range of services, including chiropractic, acupuncture, physical therapy, occupational therapy, and a recovery lounge.