Acupuncture has a place in Urgent Care!

After responding to a hospital call for priapism at the VA, we have recently accepted an interesting case of Saphenous neuralgia and RSD/CRPS. In this case,  the traditional urgent care ruled out deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and confidently offered this patient peace of mind "Thank God, I am not going to die". But what about the other important question, "Hey doc, what's wrong with me?" Interestingly, the ER doctors couldn't explain what was going on, nor did they have any solutions to treat the medical condition. Therefore, the patient decided to drive from the city to Sunnyvale to see us. This scenario is a surprisingly common one, we see often at Integrative Sports Medicine, which begs the question: does acupuncture have a place in URGENT CARE?

Believe it or not, acupuncture turned out to be THE solution to this particular patients' suffering. The relief and impact offered by acupuncture were so profound that patients chose to openly identify themselves to share their personal experiences on social media; Yelp and Facebook. With such a baffling presentation that ER doctors could not diagnose, and such quick diagnosis and treatment by the team at HeCares, our patient no doubt felt inclined to preach the gospel. Her intention, to reach people who may have medical conditions that can potentially benefit from acupuncture as an alternative way to recovery. 

Through these cases, acupuncture has proven to be an evidence-based medicine and plays a critical role in urgent care. In my humble opinion, acupuncture has evolved from alternative medicine to mainstream medicine. When facing the ever rising costs of medical care and not so promising clinical outcomes, the medical professionals and patients should team up and maintain a dialogue in the process of choosing the best possible solution to a non life threatening medical condition.