Is Acupuncture Bullsh*t?

Maybe you've started getting acupuncture, or even weirder, you've told your friends or family that you are seeing a Chinese medicine practitioner or a Chinese medicine doctor, and maybe their response was, isn't Chinese medicine a bunch of bull? Or maybe they stated it as a fact, or maybe they even said that they read a research paper that showed that acupuncture by itself is one big placebo, but it's helped you a lot. How do you respond? And what does all this really, really mean? And what is it really doing? What's up you guys? Dr. Alex Hein, doctor of Chinese medicine and licensed acupuncturist. So before we jump into this video here today, there are two very important links right below it. The first is if you'd like to become a local patient of mine in Los Angeles, or a telemedicine patient throughout California, the link to contact my private practice is right below this video. Now, the second link is for a free PDF download, which is four daily rituals that can potentially help you add years to your life with traditional Chinese medicine. So you can check those out right below this video here. So when your friends and your family think Chinese medicine is a bunch of bull, just remember this story. My mom had asked me when I was about to graduate what my title would be because she knew I was doing a doctorate. She didn't know really what doctorates in Chinese medicine are actually called. Now, I told her it's, I have a doctor in what technically what's called Oriental Medicine, but they were trying to be inclusive of East Asian medicine. But it's a doctor of Chinese medicine. And my mom said, but if I tell my friends that you're a Chinese medicine doctor, it kind of sounds like voodoo or witchcraft. My thought was, well, if I just fixed your friend's problem that their Ivy League trained physician couldn't, then who cares what you call me? And it's clear that the mainstream media is really not trying to improve the reputation of Chinese medicine. I mean, one of the dominant narratives right now is that COVID came from a wet market in China that was consuming all these weird animals like bats and they always throw in a little quip about Chinese medicine consuming weird animals, right? So the mainstream media is not really interested in the evidence on Chinese medicine. It's really interested in furthering the reputation of it being some superstitious bull that probably started COVID. Now, the reality is maybe a little bit different. So let's talk about some of the prestigious institutions within the U.S. that have presented research and information on maybe more specifically acupuncture. That seems to be the most well-studied in this country and there is obviously reimbursement for it for many insurance companies. But let's talk about the big three in America, Harvard, Johns Hopkins, and Yale. These are the creme de la creme medical institutions in our country and often throughout the world. There are some of the leaders, leading physicians, leading researchers. Now, what's interesting is that each one of these universities has information and even research on Chinese medicine, including acupuncture right on their very website. So Harvard, for example, says it offers acupuncture and even has studies listed on their website. Now, one particular paper actually that they have listed right on their website describes studying acupuncture with these really cool fMRI studies. So they are actually testing what needling certain points and if there is something to point location being a valid thing, can we verify that if you needle the spleen channel versus the stomach channel, does it really do something different that we can measure? And they are finding that with these fMRI studies, this kind of very active in the moment scan of the brain, we can see that that is true for many of the different points. That's very cool. That's on Harvard's website. Now, the second being Yale. Now, Yale School of Medicine has a publication listed on their website with the patients that have all benefited from getting acupuncture and it says right on that article that it's, I don't know if it's a PR piece or a local legal news piece, but it's showing all these people saying how much it had helped them. The third is Johns Hopkins. Now, Johns Hopkins has a whole list of conditions that may be benefited from acupuncture. Now, if these three organizations thought acupuncture and Chinese medicine was bullshit, why would they ever risk their reputation listing them on their website? Right? That's something worth considering. So if you have a skeptical friend or a skeptical family member, if what they want is research and evidence, there is research and evidence and I try my best to publish it weekly on my website. If you go to alexhein.com, there's a weekly article with at least 10 citations per article on Chinese formulas and acupuncture. But let's talk about some other factors here. Now your friends and your family, even though you may have said this has helped me so much, it has helped me much more than my doctor or my specialist or the worldwide specialist. Why don't they take it seriously? Why don't my friends and family take it seriously? Let's talk about a couple reasons. One is that they are a late adopter. Some people will never believe anything until the whole world believes it. The scientific establishment believes it has published front page news on it, et cetera. So some people are inherently late adopters. They're the last person to get the iPhone, the last person to try that new thing. They will always do what an old-fashioned, trusted authority has done for the longest period of time. And that is really a psychological bias more than anything. And that's not something really you can fix. So it's worth understanding and worth remembering that some people just have that bias. The second reason is they haven't seen the evidence, which there is now. There's even more evidence for the use of Chinese herbs and herbal formulas because you can measure the biochemistry. So if you don't believe in biochemistry, then you don't really believe in anything that's scientific. So there is evidence now. The third real bias is that they don't really want to change. You know, some people may say things like, well, that works for you. But for me, I need this. You know, I need the antibiotics for my strep throat again. I need my antidepressant. I need my Xanax. I need this nasal drain. I need my mucinex, you know, whatever it is. When someone says, well, that may have worked for you, but for me, and this is often someone who's not really ready to heal. That's why if there is something that could possibly make you feel better, even if you don't believe in it, if it's not harmful, why would you not just try it? Right? So this is not a logical thing. This is an emotional thing and a psychological bias. Yet again, this is someone who's not open really to anything that could be used to heal themselves. If there is some kind of resistance they have, and it's really not your problem to fix that, just as it's not my problem. If someone comes in, I'm going to do my best to help them. And if they don't believe it, that's it doesn't really matter. I can still help them and I can only do what I can do. Now, I would say the fourth reason why some people don't believe in this is that they have other preconceived notions that are either cultural or religious or something with upbringing. So they have a, it has Chinese in the name, right? They have some beliefs about China and the Chinese and the wet markets and where COVID came from. They have some beliefs about China. So there's a, there's some prejudice or even some racism going on here. Maybe it sounds too woo-woo, right? Maybe the person they know that goes to get acupuncture is their crystal- wearing hippie friend that believes that if they put a crystal in their third eye, it's going to unlock their pineal gland and they'll see Jesus. All right, I would be skeptical of Chinese medicine too, if that was the person who wanted to refer me to go see an acupuncturist, but I think understanding that if this is something that can help someone and the resistance they have, whether it's a psychological bias, emotional, they're not ready to heal. They don't like Chinese or China. They believe it's the devil's work. Understanding that they are missing out on potentially the most profound healing that may ever happen to them. And I mean healing in the sense of not ever needing medications ever again, permanent healing. So I think ultimately it's not really worth trying to convince friends and family. Showing people how good you feel is probably the best proof after all, right? What do they say? The best revenge is to be either really successful or really happy. I think just the evidence of your healing is probably the most effective sales pitch after all. So those are some of my thoughts on if your friends and family think acupuncture and Chinese medicine is a bunch of bull. Ultimately, if it's helping you, it's helped you more than anyone else had then who really cares what your friends and family think because you feel well again. All right guys, that's all I have for today. Again, if you want to become a patient of mine locally in Los Angeles or virtually throughout California via telemedicine, the link below is to contact my private practice. There's also a free download there for you for daily rituals that can potentially help you add years to your life with traditional Chinese medicine. That is also right below this video. Before you go, I have two other related videos for you here.