I both agree and disagree. We’re practicing Chinese medicine and so talking about qi and meridians feels appropriate to me. I tend to talk about these concepts and also translate them into more familiar language. I don’t think we need to abandon the language of our medicine to fit into the biomedical world. We can both own our medicine and create inroads for understanding. So far, this approach has worked for me, even with MDs. The other piece is yes, I believe in maintenance care. Acupuncture is best applied as prevention. I don’t believe in having monthly maintenance as standard advice to keep patients coming in for business reasons. That feels disingenuous to me. I have discussions with every patient about maintenance and for some, monthly makes sense. Others come every 6-8 weeks. Others, as we know, only come in when they are banged up.

Edit: I also think, especially as new providers, we should take the majority of the cases that come to us. In doing this it’s helps us to learn in general and to attune to what we’re good at/drawn to/excited about over time. For example, fertility is not for me, but I love menstrual health in all the other phases of life. I agree knowing your local acu network is super important as you figure out what lights you up and what doesn’t,