“You’re an acupuncturist, right?” my doctor said last Friday when he walked into the exam room for my follow-up on a routine colonoscopy.
“I am,” I answered not knowing what would follow.
“My daughter just had a baby,” he said, “and she had an acupuncturist help with the delivery. How does that work?” he asked.
I gestured to the location of ‘acupoints’ on the crest of my trapezius muscles (half way in between the neck and shoulders), then touched between my thumb and forefinger and then the inner part of my shins while explaining to him that when these points are needled, it can facilitate contractions to occur and help deliver the baby, even help to expel the afterbirth.
“And how does that work?”
Oh no. This is the hard part. Trying to explain how a thousands of years old medicine, one that in acupuncture school we try to wrap our heads around for three years of intense study and clinical work, into a quick sound bite or even a sentence or two. I was not about to attempt it especially given the few minutes allowed with the doctor.
“Your daughter is rockin’ your world, Doc.” I said and we both laughed.
As an acupuncturist, I always get curious questions like the above and I love it because it means the oldest and most used medicine on the planet has moved into our American consciousness slowly but surely. And that is a very good thing considering its application just might save someone from having to undergo a c-section.
I have seen far too many examples of how acupuncture can help with myriad medical issues to not believe that Chinese medicine will be an integral part of our health-care system in the near future. To the future!
Emmett says
Traditional Chinese Medicine Rocks On for another millennium and more!
Here is to bringing life into this world with empirical treatments developed by the ancients in the Far East.