Why Not Acupuncture

Sometimes when one has some sort of painful malady he or she will resort to most anything for a little relief. Now I am not advocating voodoo, witch doctors or the like, but acupuncture has been practiced by Chinese physicians for several thousand years. It must be safe -- haven't heard of anyone dying from the procedure. The one main problem is that these practitioners do not accept Blue Cross/Blue Shield.

Anyway, I was in Winston-Salem last week during spring break, and Amanda made me an appointment with Sarah Girard L.Ac., Dipl.Ac. (NCCAOM) -- that's what her card says, but I don't know what those letters mean.

Ms Girard specializes in acupuncture, moxibustion, cupping and gua sha. I'm sure I got the acupuncture and maybe the cupping -- moxibustion sounds like it may be a little bodily invasive, and who knows what gua sha is -- sounds like number 26 column A on the Chinese menu.

For those of you who are not familiar with acupuncture, Chi, the vital force or energy, circulates thoughout the body along fourteen major channels called "meridians." I think that the idea is to keep the Chi in balance in the workings of the bodily organs and systems which require prodigious amounts of energy.

I believe that Ms Girard found my liver and lungs to be a little out of balance, but when she got though sticking my body with a bunch of tiny stainless steel (hopefully sterile) needles my Chi got all ok. The Chi is stimulated when the needles are placed in the "acupoints." She left me for probably a half an hour looking like a pin cushion. Upon her return she removed all of the needles (at least she thought she did) and told me to rest until I felt like getting up. I got up, put on my shoes, go out the door to face a full length mirror, run my fingers though my hair and shazam there was one of those needles sticking right out of the top of my head. Ms Girard was a little embarassed at not completing her procedure. Let me not mislead you, Sarah was extremely nice, and I am sure she is good at what she does. I did feel a little relaxed, but the pain was still there -- what does one expect from one visit? She is trying to find me a practitioner in the Memphis area. I think I would be more comfortable if my next acupuncturist as least has a Chinese name.

I'm glad I did it just for the experience. I wonder if they teach acupuncture at the DeSoto campus of North West -- I need a new job.