Acupuncture: Alternative To What?

The other day, my colleague and good friend said, “people do not like to do what they do not understand.” It struck me as such a truth that I knew it was an opportunity for me to enlighten!
The biggest challenge I have as an acupuncturist in today’s society is educating people on what acupuncture is and how it can help them and their loved ones regain their health.
You have probably heard acupuncture referred to at some point as “alternative or medicine.” The term itself can be misinterpreted. It implies that acupuncture is a runner-up or a contingency plan to turn to when medicine falls short, or should one choose not to utilize medicine in the first place.
The focus of Western medicine has been primarily on the treatment of symptoms and disease. Generally speaking, when I talk to my clients, I find that most of us were raised to essentially ignore our bodies until they began to talk to us in the form of pain, numbness, indigestion, insomnia, weakness, fatigue, or any other number of symptoms. When we can no longer stand it anymore, we turned to look for answers.
The logical course of action when confronted with a health challenge should be to support and enhance the body’s internal balance and let true health and healing run its natural course. Acupuncture stands alone in the detection and correction of the body’s innate healing energies to bring about balance within the body and to maximize its full expression of life.
Acupuncture is not concerned with the treatment of symptoms or disease but with determining the underlying cause or root of a particular problem. It works to restore the natural balance with the body’s meridian system because it is within this system that we see the underlying causes of the outward expressions of sickness.
Life is expressed in the body through the meridian system and good health is orchestrated by removing blockages within the body. Less flow equals less life. And acupuncturists are the only healthcare professionals specifically trained to detect and correct the imbalances in the meridian systems.
So I believe, if we can get one person to listen, has a great experience with acupuncture and begins talking, it will be abundantly clear how effective acupuncture can be! When you have acupuncture working for you, who needs an alternative?