Thank you to everyone who took my survey about why people don’t try acupuncture. Some of the results came out as I expected, but others surprised me.

I will be discussing the results over the next several blog posts. To begin with, here was the basic information:

• 30 People responded to the poll.
• 43.3% of them had tried acupuncture before.
• Almost 80% knew a friend or family member who had tried acupuncture.
• In response to the question “In your opinion, the #1 reason why people don’t try acupuncture is,” the most popular answer (44.8%) was “They don’t know enough about it.”
• In second place was: “They are afraid of it” (27.6), followed by “It’s too expensive” in third place (20.7).
• Just under seven percent of people chose “They don’t think it will work” and no one picked “There aren’t any acupuncturists close by.”

Do you agree with these opinions? I’ll give my take on the results in the coming weeks.

A 2007 survey by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (part of the National Institutes of Health) showed that less than 2 percent of adults in the U.S. had received acupuncture in the past year.

A 2003 survey by the National Certification Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine found that about 9% of adults had tried acupuncture at some point in their lives.

For a system of medicine that has been in the United States since the 1970s (and in other parts of the world for thousands of years), this seems to me like a very low number.

Acupuncture is completely natural and virtually side-effect free. It can be extremely effective for many conditions (just ask our patients). And, thanks in part to many positive research studies, it is growing in acceptance in the Western medical community

So, why don’t more people try acupuncture? I’ve written a survey based on several theories. Please take 2 minutes (it’s only 4 questions) to answer the questions with your honest opinion. Do you think I’ve missed an explanation? Please feel free to write in other thoughts.

I will share the responses in a future blog post (all surveys are anonymous).

I’m truly interested in your opinions– please take the survey today!

Recently, I had a patient ask me an interesting question: Do I ever tell a patient that acupuncture isn’t working for him/her and s/he should stop doing it?

Certainly, there are people who don’t seem to respond to acupuncture. But it’s a tough call to know when to “discharge” someone from care. On the one hand, as a practitioner I don’t want to lead patients on or give them false hope if the treatments aren’t helping. At the same time, I don’t want to give up on a patient who might see results down the road, especially when so many of my patients have had other health-care practitioners tell them, “There’s nothing I can do.”

So, what to do? In most cases, the decision needs to rest with the patient. If I feel that someone is not benefitting from the treatments, or the condition is not progressing as quickly as I would have liked, I ask the patient what s/he thinks.

Sometimes, the treatments are helping more than I realize, and the patient just hasn’t expressed this to me. Other times, the main symptom may not be improving, but other symptoms are (see my blog post on this topic). Or, the patient just likes to come in for an hour of relaxation and quiet time (the stress reduction that acupuncture provides can be a worthwhile goal in itself).

However, if the patient doesn’t feel s/he is benefitting from acupuncture (and if I don’t think this will change in the near future), it may be time to try something else. In that case, I am happy to recommend other health-care practitioners in the area.

It is also important to set realistic expectations at the beginning of starting treatment. Certain disorders, especially tendonitis or other inflammatory conditions, naturally take longer to respond and I try to convey this to new patients. If you have questions about your particular health concern, please contact us to talk about it in advance.

I came across this helpful article from Acupuncture.com: Ten Ways To Better Eye Health.

The great part is that these are ideas anyone can incorporate into their daily routine.

Here are some additional massage techniques that can help with eye fatigue. Please go gently when massaging around the eye area!

Every week, I see patients who are trying acupuncture for the first time. Have you ever wondered about my first experience getting a treatment? Read my post at the Community Acupuncture Network.