During “season” I see 50 patients a week, that’s the max I’ll see a week to ensure each patient gets quality time. When COVID hit, I went from 50 to 13 patients from one week to the next. I watched as each week my numbers would fluctuate up and down but never reaching more than 60% capacity, often less. As states reopened I, like you, watched intently on how that affected the numbers. In the last few weeks Florida has been the hot spot for increased cases.

When I got to work this morning I noticed my patient numbers had decreased from last week, as they had done the week before, and like they have done many times since March 2020. I stood there thinking about how ironic that was. Acupuncture is PROVEN to increase your ability to fight off infection. So why aren’t more people seeking out acupuncture during this pandemic? Do they think they’re increasing their chances of getting COVID by coming to an Acupuncture practice? Or do they just not know about acupuncture and immunity? Most likely, both.

Western medicine often likes to debunk Acupuncture because they don’t understand it. Often stating “it appears to work but i don’t know why”. What’s so hard to understand about energy? We know wind provides it, water produces it, and let’s not forget the sun and all its glorious solar power. So what’s so hard to understand about it when it’s IN the body? But, even without the understanding of energy, doctors and scholars have still scientifically proven that acupuncture increases white blood cells. White blood cells after all, are the key players in your immune system. WBC’s move through your body hunting down foreign invaders, such as bacteria, viruses, parasites and fungi. When they do find them, they kill them!

So I ask, who doesn’t want more little soldiers parading around looking for enemies to annihilate? You might be asking, how often do I need these teeny tiny, stainless steel, disposable needles stuck in me to keep my immune system high. I recommend every other week. If you are immune compromised, once a week would be more suitable. When we are not in a pandemic, some patients would benefit from just once a month.

The points most commonly used are ST 36 (“1 point 1000 diseases, pretty self explanatory ), LI 4/LV 3 (The 4 Gates to open up pathways to expel pathogens), GB 20 (wind pool, to release external pathogens. A.k.a viruses). On top of that, Acupuncture uses points specific to each patients constitution to help them individually.

In the end, you’re far better off receiving acupuncture than not. That I know.

Mariryan Heschmeyer, D.O.M, A.P