A few reasons to try acupuncture in 2015…

Years ago I watched Kiiko Matsumoto treat a hemiplegic patient who two years prior was knocked on her head by an ocean wave and lost sensation in the left side of her body. As Kiiko buzzed around the patient placing needles and pressing points, the patient reported, teary-eyed, that she could feel both her arms and hands. From that day on, I’ve been a firm believer in acupuncture’s healing potential.

Most patients try acupuncture as a last resort when their doctors have declared their discomfort unfixable or psychosomatic, or prescription drugs have caused collateral damage. Some give it a try when their insurance plans cover a certain number of visits. Others have found community acupuncture offers a way to make regular treatments affordable.

If you still haven’t tried acupuncture and are curious whether it’s worth your time and money, here are five encouraging reasons to give it a chance:

Acupuncture is a system of medicine based on restoring balance. The goal is to restore normal functioning by balancing out what is excessive or lacking. You can book an appointment whether you have no symptoms at all or every symptom in the book, and we’ll investigate what you could use more of, or what is a little over the top that we can dial down.

Here are some examples of reasons you can see your acupuncturist when other types of medical professionals might give you a look of .

1.Great results without negative side effects:
 Unlike drugs and surgical procedures, acupuncture does not have disturbing side effects –In our experience, feeling great is the most commonly reported side effect.

2.Treatment according to your individual needs
No two people are alike. Thus, you will never be treated as just another case of "X" syndrome. Just because two people experience the same symptom, does not mean that the root cause is the same. The bonus of this kind of treatment is that other challenging symptoms or imbalances within the body will often improve as you develop greater vitality and thriving health.

3.Acupuncture practitioners will spend time with you
Most acupuncturists spend anywhere from an hour to two hours in the initial consultation and treatments may be 45 minutes to an hour long. This allows acupuncturists to deliver highly personalized patient centered care. You will not feel rushed to try and explain your concerns in a quick sound byte.

4.Finding out it's not "all in your head"
Many people come in our office with odd constellations of symptoms that don't make sense in terms of Western diagnosis. Sometimes they've been told that nothing can be done with conventional medicine or that the issue must be "all in your head because we can't find anything on a blood test, MRI, x-ray, CAT scan etc." Acupuncture often effectively treats syndromes or symptoms that don't have a clear explanation or treatment protocol with conventional medicine.

5.You don't have to be sick to come in for treatment
Acupuncture is powerful preventative medicine, so you don't have to wait for something to go wrong to receive benefits. Acupuncture is best utilized as part of a person's overall commitment to health and well-being and is most effective when combined with solid nutrition, regular exercise, adequate sleep and rest.

6.Acupuncture is just as effective 
At treating emotional issues like depression as it is at treating physical symptoms like chronic pain. In other words, we see great results treating the person who limps into our office with radiating back pain, and the person who walks in saying, "there's nothing physically wrong with me, I'm just really stressed out and perpetually unhappy all the time," also has great results from treatment.

7.Treatment is fun
We spend a lot of time laughing with our patients. Laughter is definitely one of the best medicines to lift the spirit and mobilize the well documented health benefits of being positive. Life sometimes comes with profoundly difficult challenges. But the fact remains that none of us are getting out of it alive. Why not be a little light-hearted and share some good laughs along the way?

8.Regular acupuncture treatment helps 
keep you healthy so you are less likely to need conventional medicine as often  most acupuncture patients report that they feel a greater sense of well-being, get sick less often and are less affected by life's stressors than they were prior to beginning treatment.

9.Low cost
Acupuncture is relatively inexpensive when compared to modernized forms of health care. Consider these numbers: Blood pressure medication can  in a year's time. One MRI can be anywhere from . Major procedures, like open heart surgery. The diagnostic process leading up to surgery combined with post surgical care stack the costs considerably higher.

Most physicians agree that these costs can be avoided by making lifestyle changes and adopting a preventative mindset. Without insurances coverage, a single major health event could easily bankrupt the average American family. With the average cost of acupuncture treatment around $, even at 10 treatments, the out of pocket. The fact is: Combining a healthy lifestyle with a relatively small investment in acupuncture care will greatly reduce the likelihood of falling into a devastating financial crisis and it will likely increase your quality of life in a very positive way.

10.One third of the world's population uses acupuncture as their primary form of health care Not that we're recommending that you do something merely because it's hugely popular, but since roughly 2 Billion people on the planet depend on acupuncture and Chinese medicine to keep them healthy, there might be a good reason for you to consider it too!

11. It's personalized healthcare.
No two acupuncture patients receive the same treatment for the same disease or discomfort. Acupuncturists treat patients, not diseases. They are trained to take in every detail of you, from the sound of your voice to the quality of your skin to the sparkle in your eyes. They care about your whole story, past and present. They see your body as a network of interdependent parts: muscle, bone, fascia, organs, blood and body fluids, as well as more subtle layers like meridians and qi. They see what is deficient and what is stuck, mentally as well as physically, and make adjustments like a traffic cop, facilitating the body’s own healing ability.

12. It’s nothing to be afraid of.
Sure, you may feel the needles and their immediate effects, but you needn’t be anxious. If you're suffering aches and pains on a daily basis, that chronic pain far outweighs any momentary mini pinch of a hair-thin sterile acupuncture needle.

13. It has lovely side effects.
You may go to acupuncture to cure your neck and shoulder pain, and find that the pain diminishes. Meanwhile, your stress level, sleep quality, digestion, and overall mood improve too.

14. It gets to the root.
Acupuncture treatments are deeply healing because they focus not only on the patient’s current condition, but investigate why their symptoms are manifesting and aim to treat the underlying root cause.

15. It works.
Acupuncture has been around since before recorded history. The earliest written record comes from a few hundred years before the common era. If it didn’t work, it certainly wouldn’t have lasted thousands of years and spread through hundreds of Asian medical lineages.

Scientists try to understand how acupuncture works from a biomedical perspective. Some refer to its effects on fascia, the connective tissue that surrounds all our muscles and organs. Some point to acupuncture’s ability to stimulate the limbic system and autonomic nervous system.

Some scientists claim in their studies that acupuncture is sometimes as effective as “sham acupuncture.” While they attempt to fit a versatile and non-linear medicine into a formulaic model with double-blind studies, the clinical experience of everyday practitioners and patients agrees with thousands of years of history  acupuncture works!

The Top Reasons People Don't Get Acupuncture (and Why They Should):

If you’ve never been exposed to traditional Chinese medicine before, you may not even know what acupuncture is and that’s OK! But why not know about all the healthcare options available to you? Acupuncture has been in use for over 2,000 years. It follows the Chinese medicine belief that no issue in the body is isolated. Everything is connected, whether it’s a connection between various body parts and organs or between the mind, body, and spirit, a person’s wellbeing is always considered as a total picture and not one segment.

The root of this belief is that each person, each living thing, has  life energy. Qi flows through the body in energy streams known as meridians, which are related to hundreds of points on the skin. When blockages exist in the meridians and the flow of qi is inhibited, health is compromised and pain or illness can result.

Acupuncture is the strategic placement of ultra-thin (think a hair’s width) needles in the acupoints that correspond to the meridians of the issue at hand. The goal is to renew the healthy flow of qi and to restore the body to balance.

Whether you know a little bit about acupuncture, have never heard of it, or know all about it and have decided that it’s not for you take a look at these reasons that may be holding you back from giving it a whirl, and see if you want to reevaluate your assumptions!

“I’m afraid of needles.” Fear of needles is the number one reason people refuse to try acupuncture. While there are some that have a genuine phobia of needles, there are others that are hesitant because the first thought that accompanies the idea of needles is “ouch!”. This is a huge misnomer about the practice of acupuncture: the truth is that it does not hurt.

We know what you’re thinking how can that be? It’s because the needles used in acupuncture are not anything like the needles you are used to seeing in a Western medical setting. They are extremely thin they even bend at the touch. And needles used in some forms of acupuncture, such as Japanese techniques, are even thinner. Not only does the placement of these needles not hurt, patients report that the acupuncture treatment itself is relaxing.

After an intake and diagnosis with your practitioner, he or she will place the needles and leave you in a restful position in your treatment room for 15 to 20 minutes before returning to remove the needles. This time is for de-stressing and to allow the needles to do their work of unblocking qi and restoring peace and wellbeing to your body.

“I don’t think it works.” If acupuncture interests you, or you have tried conventional medicine treatments for an issue and are open to seeking Oriental medicine in conjunction with them, or if you just have a curiosity in exploring all of your medical options then isn’t it worth trying acupuncture and finding out if it works for you?

The use of acupuncture for issues ranging from sports injury to anxiety has been studied and has been determined to effectively treat an extensive list of ailments including but not limited to pain management, insomnia, anxiety, depression, migraines, arthritis, sports injury recovery, and, in particular, OBGYN and fertility issues. In fact, recent studies in Germany and Australia have discovered that acupuncture, when used in conjunction with in vitro fertilization (IVF), can boost a woman’s odds of successfully conceiving and carrying a baby up by 50% than those who didn’t use acupuncture.

Additionally, there are no side effects to acupuncture. Unlike invasive or chemical Western medical treatments, acupuncture has no downside. There is nothing to lose by giving it a try, and quite possibly everything to gain relief, wellbeing, and health.

“It’s more money than Western care.”  Acupuncture and Oriental medicine are still in the process of being incorporated into many insurance policies. However, 2011 was an outstanding year for integrative medicine. Many of these developments grew out of the mandated inclusion of integrative and complementary and alternative medicine practices in the Obama-Pelosi Affordable Care Act. The public’s interest in holistic healthcare is on the rise.

The latest studies indicate that 65 to 80 percent of the world’s population and approximately 38 percent of all Americans use complementary alternative medicine (CAM). An increasing number of medical centers now offer integrative services. According to a recent survey by the American Hospital Association and the Samueli Institute, a nonprofit research group focusing on complementary medicine, 42 percent of the 714 hospitals that responded offered at least one such therapy in 2010, a significant jump from just five years earlier, when 27 percent of hospitals offered such treatments.

Even if your insurance does not cover acupuncture, there are affordable places to find treatment. Most Oriental medicine colleges, including each of Pacific College’s three campuses (San Diego, Chicago, and New York) have a clinic on site. At a school clinic, you can get an acupuncture treatment from a student practitioner (supervised by an experienced practicing acupuncturist professor) for anywhere from 40 to 60 dollars per treatment.  Also, Community acupuncture clinics are becoming increasingly popular and easy to find.


“I don’t know where to go or who to see.” Well, that’s what we’re here for! We’ve made it super easy for you. If you go to our directory (which can also help you find a massage therapist, by the way), you can search by your zip code to find an acupuncturist in your area, as well as learn what areas he or she specializes in.

There are numerous ways that acupuncture can enrich your life, help you heal, and provide balance to your mind and spirit. Don’t let an excuse get in the way of reaching your best state of being!