The Top 10 Reasons People Visit The Acupuncturist

Lately I've been going to a lot of networking events, and the most common question I encounter revolves around the theme of what types of conditions acupuncture can treat.

• "What problems do people come to you for?"  
• "What diseases are you trained to treat?" 
• "Can acupuncture help with my child's headaches?"  

Since acupuncture relies on a careful evaluation of signs, symptoms, tongue and pulse within a logic system that is often quite different than the western medical logic, we acupuncturists don't always first think in terms of western disease diagnosis.  After all, we might get five different patients with the same western diagnosis of "stomach ulcer," but in our system they are all exhibiting different patterns which require unique treatments.  In other words, the way that we diagnose takes into consideration the western diagnosis, but uses that just as a starting point for further differentiation.

However, in the United States I think it's important that acupuncturists clearly convey the types of ailments that acupuncture can help, so that people know when to recognize that a trip to see us would be helpful!  For example, a new client comes to me complaining of tennis elbow.  During the initial intake, I find out that she also suffers from insomnia but didn't know acupuncture could help improve her sleep.  If she hadn't overdone it with her backhand, she might have never known it was a treatment option.

In this spirit, I am going to start out my new blog by making posts about the Top 10 Reasons People Visit The Acupuncturist.  This is in no way scientific;  I just did a quick mental list of all the patients I've treated over the past several months and came up with this collection.  When possible, I'll link my blogs up with applicable research.

My Top Ten List (in no particular order or importance or prevalence):

1. Something Hurts:  (including Back Pain / Sports Injury / Injury due to sedentary job / Chronic pain)
2. Hypertension
3. Stress / Anxiety / Depression
4. Fertility (including men...!)
5. Headache
6. Insomnia
7. Gynecological Issues: (including Menstrual Cramps / Hot Flashes / Cycle related mood slumps / Fatigue after childbirth / Mastitis)
8. High Blood Pressure 
9. Trouble losing weight / Feeling low energy
10. Digestive Issues (acid reflux, pain, indigestion)
11. Frequently catching colds  (Yes, I'm cheating by sneaking an eleventh in.  But it's so common that I don't want to leave it out!)

In each future entry I'll make my way down this list.

If you are an acupuncturist and commonly treat something that I haven't included please leave a comment with your experiences!

If you are someone wondering if acupuncture could help you then my advice is to make an appointment with a licensed acupuncturist near you.  Acupuncturists need to do an initial intake before we can concretely let you know what your treatment options are.

To make an appointment with me, you can either visit www.acutuneup.com and make an appointment online, or call my office at (510) 545-2283.