You’ve heard about it. Maybe you’ve gotten to know a few practitioners via their social media. Do you have a health issue and your regular doctor either cannot help you or you go to your appointment and leave feeling like there has to be more to health than just prescriptions for Pharma drugs? The siren call of acupuncture has been growing louder for you, hasn’t it? You do want to be your healthy best and you truly want to look and feel even better.
Why wait? There is no time like the present when it comes to the journey of a thousand steps that is your health and wellbeing. The question for today is what, really, is standing between you and your first appointment?
Here are some key considerations that I hope will inspire you to get moving today:
Finding an acupuncturist is easy but not as easy as just Googling:
You may think that acupuncture is acupuncture and it’s just putting needles here and there on the body. Not so! We specialize and have different approaches. Consequently, if one acupuncturist doesn’t work for you, another might. It also helps to look around and find a practitioner with whom you feel a sense of connection.
I wrote a blog post a few years back, Find an Acupuncturist: How to Find the Best Chinese Medicine Practitioner for What You Want to Accomplish, and it was good then and it’s good now. The TL/DR version, though, is that most of us specialize or have particular talents or interests. If you look for an acupuncturist, it helps to find one that specifically mentions your concern in their social media.
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It’s also smart to plan ahead, especially if you have a particular situation that predisposes you to needing an acupuncturist on short notice.
A woman with a high-risk pregnancy, for example, will have her biomedical caregivers and may wish to also have an acupuncturist on the team. I will never forget when I was in my second graduate program. I was one of the interns who worked with a patient who had experienced multiple miscarriages. The poor lady came to the clinic in utter desperation. Chinese medicine is excellent resource for threatened miscarriage and, if that is your reason for seeking treatment, you don’t want to be searching about for a new practitioner if things start looking dire. In this case, the ongoing efforts of the patient, the student interns, and the faculty clinical supervisors saw her finally sustaining an uneventful pregnancy and the miraculous birth of a healthy baby.
I am not the one for fertility (go to the ABORM website if you wish to find a specialist) but if you are an athlete, a professional musician, or simply accident-prone? What if you are hypermobile? In my professional opinion, it is better to have a practitioner you know and trust before you have an accident and can’t play your sport, practice or perform in your concert, or otherwise enjoy your life despite being clumsy.
My niche specialties include treatment of acute injury, ranging from cut fingers to broken bones and other such mishaps. If you have been to your orthopedic doctor and they’ve got you in a sling or a boot and giving you a short window of time before deciding on surgery, I’m your woman. I’m really good at helping people to avoid surgery. If you have scars? Well, I am a SCAR GODDESS, which is another slightly unusual specialty area. If it’s related to your skeleton, your muscles, your skin, or your connective tissue (I even wrote a book about Ehlers Danlos syndrome and Chinese medicine), then I’m your resource. (And this includes cosmetic treatments too). If you live histamine intolerance, MCAS, or gut health issues, then I am a great resource for you.
Does this resonate? If so, and wherever you are, you want to look around and see if you can find a practitioner who loves working on soft tissue and bone before you have an emergency that gets in the way of your enjoyment of your life. No sense in waiting until you can’t eat anything other than three specific items (for instance) either.
Another common concern, at least where I am (that would be Austin, Texas), is allergies. If you are laid out by allergies every year, you’ll have better luck breaking the cycle by starting your program in advance of allergy season. Another very common issue that I treat is poor sleep. It’s hard to enjoy life when you’re exhausted, right?
I could go on, but the long story short is this: if you have particular considerations that drive your interest in seeing an acupuncturist, you’ll probably have better luck if you find someone you trust before you have an emergency or before things become truly entrenched.
That chronic condition is not going to cure itself:
If it’s too late to plan ahead? If things are already truly entrenched then no, all is not lost. Instead, the question is: why wait any longer? It really is time to get moving, isn’t it? And don’t be discouraged, either.
It’s easier if you started yesterday but it’s not too late to find yourself an acupuncturist and get going on your health journey. You can do it!
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Realistically speaking, the percentage of Americans with chronic conditions means that it’s likely that you are one of that number. I’ve mentioned it in other recent blog posts but…did you know that 60% of adults in America live with chronic illness and 40% of the population struggles with more than one? These statistics blow my mind on some levels and on others, I’m saddened but not surprised. And if there is any one good reason to develop a connection with an acupuncturist, it’s “new normal” levels of chronic illness.
Chronic illness, especially if it’s preventable, shouldn’t be normal. When you work closely with an acupuncturist who can help you with your gut health or your stress levels, just to start, you are doing your part to protect yourself from chronic illness.
Sometimes, the chronic condition is a lifelong one and can’t be resolved. I work with some real beasts, including MCAS and hEDS (all I’m going to say is that if you don’t know what those letters mean then count yourself lucky), so I know. And yet, even if your chronic condition is incurable there is always something you can do to improve things, even if only a bit. A specialist, in these cases, is always going to be your best option. But having hope and determination? If you find the right acupuncturist, they’ll maintain hope and determination when yours flags, and in so doing, they can support you where you need it most: in your spirit.
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Wellness is a process:
Chinese medicine isn’t like biomedicine, where you go to the doctor, they give you a diagnosis and write you your prescription for drugs or physical therapy, and then send you on your way. There’s an ebb and flow to becoming your healthy best and your acupuncturist will work with that and in response to it.
As you consider getting started with an acupuncturist, maybe ask yourself what that process might look like for you. What does your vision of success look and feel like?
That’s different for each one of us and your acupuncturist can help you identify and achieve that very goal.
And finally? All the cool people are doing it:
All the cool people really are doing it.
Seriously, though. If celebrity endorsements are inspiring, then you are in luck. This blog post, “26 celebrities You Won’t Believe Use Acupuncture,” includes even Oprah Winfrey’s dog (because surely, her dog counts as being one of the cool folks, right?).
All humor aside…one that I especially love, since I know how awful it is and that yes, acupuncture can fix it, is the case of Angelina Jolie when she suffered from Bell’s palsy. (Trust me when I say, Bell’s palsy is horrible and you do not want to get it. If you do, you definitely do not want to wait around for treatment.) Another famous acupuncture patient is Meghan Markle. Sports figures, too, are some of the cool people who rely on this modality to get the job done. The long story short: whether you are famous or not, acupuncture can work wonders for you.
Do you really want to miss out on some of the best medicine you could ever experience?
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Paula Bruno, Ph.D., L.Ac., is a licensed acupuncturist and herbalist, an AOBTA-CP traditional Chinese bodywork therapist, and a wellness educator and health coach. She maintains an active and growing practice at her Austin, TX office. Dr. Bruno is also available for distance appointments for wellness consultation or coaching.
In her first career, she was a Spanish professor.
Dr. Bruno’s specialties as a Chinese medicine practitioner include: • Musculoskeletal health (acute or chronic pain relief; Ehlers Danlos syndrome & hypermobility support) • Digestive support, gut health, and weight loss • Aesthetic treatment, including scar revision • Men’s health • General preventative care and immune support for all persons.
She is the author of Chinese Medicine and the Management of Hypermobile Ehlers Danlos Syndrome: A Practitioner’s Guide. Dr. Bruno also maintains a second website, holistichealthandheds.com, with resources and information curated specifically for people with hEDS and HSD.
When you are ready to discover what traditional medicine plus a vibrant and engaged approach to holistic health can do for you, either contact Dr. Bruno or book an appointment online.
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Note: Material on this web site site is not intended to diagnose, prevent, treat, or cure any disease, illness, or ailment. A Chinese medicine practitioner in Texas identifies syndrome patterns but does not diagnose illness. Material on this web site does not purport to identify syndrome patterns.
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