Acupuncture Clinic in Kauai, Hawaii

Acupuncture Changed My Life – Here’s My “Why”

I was a western-medicine-traveling-drug-rep and fitness fanatic. I fully ignored any “check engine light” that would go off in my body. I knew that I should have slowed down, de-stressed, and taken care of myself better but I choose to keep my frenetic schedule the way it was. “Keeping up with the Joneses” I called it – otherwise known as: achieve, achieve, achieve. Until one snowy day I walked out of the Sioux Falls, SD airport and schlepped my luggage into my rental car for the 100th time and hurt my back. I was immobile and the security from the airport had to pick me up off the ice.

I then did what most of us do, I went to go see a doctor. He told me I needed surgery and drugs for the herniated discs and he could get me on his schedule for surgery in a month. He also mentioned in a positive way that the surgery had a 50% chance of reducing my pain. What? Cut on me and a big surgery for 50% – NO WAY. So I decided to see what I could do for myself. I reluctantly went to a chiropractor (who in the past I had thought were quacks) and achieved ok results. It would work for a while but the pain eventually came back.

Thank goodness this chiropractor decided to refer me to an acupuncturist. At the time I remember thinking, NO WAY. I hate needles. Who is this ‘granola’ person? Do they re-use needles? Does Chinese Medicine even work? When you are in so much pain you will try anything – and I did. I arrived at the acupuncturist’s office and was shocked to see that she was Caucasian and not Chinese. How will this work if she’s not even Chinese? I thought … so stereotypical. She told me to expect the pain to be gone in 3-6 treatments. Riiiiiiight? I’m signed up for surgery, chiropractic, and massage didn’t work and now somehow this will? So I decided to try the treatments. Lo and behold within 4 treatments she had me out of pain and I ultimately avoided surgery.