A female patient with sacral pain and numbness in her feet returned to clinic today. The first words out of her mouth were "I think it's done some good". She continued to explain that after her first acupuncture treatment she feels less stiffness and pain in her lower back and more feeling in the toe most affected by neuropathy. By the way, she added, "I had an optimistic dream, and I don't have optimistic dreams."
Acupuncture is an evolving medicine with roots in a culture that lived over 2000 years ago. While in modern times, we strive to remember the mind/body connection and reincorporate it into our health care system, Chinese medicine is inherently holistic, as the mind and body have never been considered entirely separate in the first place.
I find it exciting when patients observe changes in habitual thought patterns, their moods and emotions in addition to changes in physical symptoms. And consistently, people report to me that they feel relieved to know that they can embrace all of it and be seen as a whole person by a health care provider who is more interested in finding and enhancing connections in their body rather than focusing on isolated parts.