Acupuncture and Chinese Herbs: What does love have to do with it?

Acupuncture and Chinese herbs are a centuries old, medicine that is increasing in popularity world wide. “According to the [most recent] 2007 National Health Interview Survey, […] an estimated 3.1 million U.S. adults and 150,000 children had used acupuncture in the previous year. Between the 2002 and 2007 NHIS, acupuncture use among adults increased by approximately 1 million people.”

Every year the number of people using acupuncture increases dramatically because it’s safe, natural and it works for a broad range of aliments, particularly for those conditions, like chronic pain and stress, fibromyalgia, insomnia, allergy, anxiety and depression and other systemic disorders where biomedicine does not have good answers.

Why is this? Clinical evidence shows two factors that are likely at play. One is the interaction between patient and practitioner. Acupuncturists, myself in particular, spend a lot of time understanding the persons health history and related symptoms. We also spend more time with the patient during each visit, developing a trusting, caring relationship. The second factor is the fundamental difference in approach between bio- and Chinese medicine. Where biomedicine takes the divide-and-conquer approach isolating symptoms and fighting them with drugs and invasive procedures, Chinese medicine seeks out the underlying causes and harmonizes the imbalances in the entire body thereby enabling the body’s natural defenses to remedy the disorder and it’s related symptoms. It also helps prevent recurrence and future disorders. In both factors we see love, genuine caring and respect for the human body at work. For many medical conditions, and possibly for all, the “fighting” approach has a tendency to cause other problems in other parts of our bodies. You may have seen this pattern in other areas of life. Why not with our own bodies?

My personal goal is to have my patients feel cared for and to know that I am committed to helping them feel their best. I believe that part of the healing process happens in the mind of the patient. When people feel cared for, when they take part in their own healing and when they have confidence and trust in their practitioner, studies show, the results improve, in many cases, by 30%*. It has been called bedside manner and sometimes the placebo effect, but it is a known factor in every healing interaction.

Aside from symptom reduction and resolution, the most common thing I hear from my patients is, “I feel so much better, when I leave here. I’ve slept better, I have more energy and I feel more relaxed.” The more I see my patients’ health improve, the more I love what I do. The more enjoyment and satisfaction I get from helping my patients, the better they feel. It is a loving and rewarding cycle that builds on itself.

*See Ted Kaptchuk’s studies on the placebo effect.