The latest spa treatment

In a treatment room somewhere between the hushed-phone manner in reception and a meditation class in the relaxation area, acupuncturist and massage therapist Joan Manskey delivers her personally devised treatment - Acussage.

Following the principles of tui na, a Chinese idea of massage as part of medicine, Mansky decided she could treat clients at a really deep level if she combined her knowledge of the body's musculo-skeletal make-up with its acupuncture meridiens. In plain English, this means she uses her hands to diagnose and the needles to treat. This combination of the two disciplines results in an 80-minute session consisting, generally, of about 80 per massage and 20 per cent needles.

She'll use Swedish massage with acupuncture for stress, a sports massage with needles for an injury. For pregnancy, Mansky's acupuncture can be aimed at relieving morning sickness and building up the chi (energy) of the foetus, her massage skills to ease lower back pain. "The possibilities," she says, "are almost endless. Society is very nervous about touching - but we don't lose that need as we grow up. Human touch is vital."

It certainly worked on my jet lag. The acupuncture seeming to "boost" the effects of the massage, so I avoided that awful spaced-out feeling. I'm no stranger to acupuncture, mind you, and went in willingly - some might feel that the last thing they need after a long flight is a needle sticking out of their scalp.

I told Joan I wanted to detox during my stay. Ping, ping, ping, in went some more needles. More than a week later I hadn't had a craving for a single junkie thing - not a syrup-slathered waffle, not a glass of wine, not a cigarette, not for a second.

"I prefer to call it complementary healthcare," she says, "rather than alternative, which implies choosing one over the other, because there are some things acupuncture cannot do.

"Oh, and I called it Acussage because it sounds better than masspuncture."

? An 80-minute Acussage treatment with Joan Mansky at the Centre for Well-Being Spa costs $195. Rooms at The Phoenician resort, Scottsdale from $595-$695. Book through Starwood (0800 353535).