The concept of sticking needles into your body usually is not a comforting thought for a person in pain or under stress.

Patricia Faivre of the Acupuncture Health Center, 3301 Resource Parkway, uses acupuncture techniques to stick needles in people to soothe them.

Faivre demonstrated the treatment at the DeKalb Public Library on Monday.

Kathy Keyes, who volunteered to receive treatment, said she didn’t feel any change during the treatment.

“It’s not painful,” she said. “I didn’t even notice she was taking [the pins] out.”

The practice of acupuncture began in China about 3,000 years ago and still is practiced in China alongside modern medicine, Faivre said.

Some ailments that have been treated with acupuncture include alcohol dependence, colds and flus, body pain and smoking.

Faivre said she tries to relax people to help them stop smoking. She also tries to determine why people smoke and when they usually do it.

The most important thing is that smokers want to stop, she said.

With a doctor’s referral, she also has done the procedure on pregnant women.

“We use it for pain control,” Faivre said. “It was used long before Western medicine.”

Faivre usually massages patients for five to 10 minutes before using needles.

After 14 years of work putting the needles in, she said she knows when they are deep enough.

“I feel the energy from the needle to the hand,” she said.

Faivre also demonstrated the tongue and pulse as diagnostic sources.

The beat and depth of the pulse can help determine the constitution of the person, she said.

Observations about a person’s tongue, such as its color, moisture, shape and quality, can relate information about his or her personality, Faivre said.

For example, red tongues indicate a hot-boiled person and pale tongues indicate a calmer person.

She said usually people take that test before the acupuncture procedure.

Faivre said if people are interested in the procedure or would like to get acupuncture done, they can call her at 758-5508.