A trip to an acupuncturist

I’m lying on a table, nearly naked, with needles poking out of various places on my body. I’m trying to relax and focus on the classical music playing in the office, but it is drowned out by the thumping beats of Mexican music coming from the taquería next door. No, it’s not a dream; It was my first visit to an acupuncturist.

Since Q4 of 2021, I’ve had intermittent pain in my hands–specifically, my fingers. My second knuckles get red, and I feel a tightness and pain when I clench my hands or grip items. Swelling also coincides with the pain, where sometimes I cannot remove my Oura ring. It tends to be the worst when I wake up in the morning. Thankfully, the symptoms do not affect my typing.

There was a time when the pain went away completely. It happened after a breathing exercise at 40 Years of Zen. I still don’t have an explanation for that experience, which lasted nearly a month before the symptoms returned. At the advice of a friend, whom I met at 40 Years of Zen ironically, I decided to visit his recommended acupuncturist.

Acupuncture was derived from Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) that dates as far back as 1,000 B.C. TCM founded the concept of treating specific points along the body where unseen energy pathways (meridians) could be stimulated with a needle to affect energy (qi) within the body to improve function.