Dr. David B. Meredith, D.Ac., is not your typical physician. With a unique blend of Western and Eastern medical knowledge, he has seamlessly integrated the principles of acupuncture into his practice, bridging the gap between ancient healing techniques and contemporary healthcare. As we delve into his story, we’ll explore his background, his path to becoming a Doctor of Acupuncture, and the remarkable impact this centuries-old practice is making in the modern world of medicine. Join Mystic Mag on this enlightening journey through the life and work of Dr. David B. Meredith, a pioneer in the field of acupuncture, and discover how his expertise is transforming the way we approach healthcare today.
What inspired you to pursue a career in acupuncture, and can you share any personal experiences that solidified your belief in its effectiveness?
I’ve been an entrepreneur for about thirty years, which is a lifestyle that can have its share of stresses, especially if you care a lot about the quality of your services. In the 1990s, I was suffering from a lot of true pain from muscle tension, like jaw pain from TMJ, and neck and shoulder pain from holding myself as rigid as a zombie. I could barely chew and swallow some days. Simultaneously, I had a little white cat who had her own mysterious stressors, who was constantly peering around with wild eyes and ripping her own fur out in bloody patches, which honestly was not a good look. A friend at the time suggested I take the cat to an animal acupuncturist, which I had barely heard of at that point, and both the cat and I were astonished when this worked miracles for her disposition, so I figured I was next in line at that point.
Over the next couple of years, I went to acupuncture as often as I could. My pains had diminished quickly enough, but I was so afraid they would return to the level they had been – which was quite debilitating – that I went as a preventative, and just to relax and have someone respond to my concerns about life.
Starting around 2005, I owned a store with a cafe in it, and I realized that some of the tables were regularly occupied by acupuncture students from the nearby school, who were studying for tests, and we would get into fascinating conversations. By the time of the Great Recession, which knocked my business off the map, I knew I needed to start over with my career, and I signed up for the school, myself.
The second part of your question is interesting to me now because I never DIDN’T have a “belief in its effectiveness.” I watched the medicine work wonders for a cat and my own self, and knew that it had been around since antiquity, and that was good enough for me. It wasn’t until I was in acupuncture school and people started acting weird around me that I realized that thousands of years of personal anecdotes and dozens of years of research still did not make for conventional acceptance. It was the ONLY thing that worked for the dynamic duo of myself and my cat, and believe me, I had spent thousands of dollars on more conventional approaches for both of us.
Acupuncture is often used to address a wide range of health issues. Could you highlight some of the most surprising or lesser-known conditions that acupuncture can be effective in treating?
I have a very strong success rate with outcomes, but I never really make any claims about what I can accomplish in any specific case or diagnosis. If someone asks me, “Can acupuncture help XYZ,” I always just say, “Let’s try it and see.” I’ve gotten wildly good results in obscure conditions nobody has ever heard of, and (thankfully very rarely) gotten minimal results in simple cases that should have been a slam dunk. Acupuncture, as originally conceived, is a complete system of medicine, and it’s holistic. It’s supposed to be able to address any concern, to some degree or another. But it depends on the person.
When I say things like this is when the dogmatic skeptics come out and start waving their hands around about the placebo effect. But look, one third of any medical intervention of ANY kind is “placebo effect.” That’s another way of saying mind-body medicine, or – ta da! – holistic medicine. I love treating grumpy old straight guys whose wives made them come in after hearing them complain endlessly about their pains. They’ll be grousing about how acupuncture doesn’t work, and it’s a waste of money or whatever, and I’ll be like, “Uh huh, where’s your pain now.” And their eyes will go wide when they realize it’s gone.
Or the same sort of guy will come in because he’s up five times a night to go to the bathroom, and we’ll do some treatment and he’s down to one time, and he’ll be like, “Oh, I guess those vitamins I take finally started working after five years.” And I’ll say, “Oh, you mean that treatment I gave you last week, which is the only thing you’ve done differently, had nothing to do with it?” And sometimes I’ll watch it register, and we’ll both laugh.
Maybe the most unusual condition acupuncture can treat is stubbornness. Some people are very attached to their ideas about how the world works.
What type of services do you offer?
I do traditional acupuncture, but I also do electroacupuncture and motor point acupuncture (which is sort of like dry needling in that it’s an orthopedic style, but much gentler and more effective). I also do some laser acupuncture. I love gadgets and looking at how technology that the ancient Chinese sages didn’t have access to might solve the same problems they worked on. I’m about to expand my clinic to offer other more technological solutions, such as PEMF and red light therapy.
Acupuncture often involves the use of fine needles. How do you address common misconceptions and concerns about needle safety and pain during acupuncture treatments?
I think when people hear “needles” they think of hypodermic needles or knitting needles or something. Huge metal things wedged through their skin. There is a web graphic that sometimes goes around that shows like 20 acupuncture needles inserted into the hole of a hypodermic needle. They’re very, very small and fine. If someone comes in, desperate for help, and says they have a needle phobia, I walk them through the process, showing them how they’re sterile and single-use. And then I go slowly, work with them on their breathing, and do a quick insertion. They’re usually surprised that it’s done; they’re still waiting for the sharp pain they were expecting.
Many people turn to acupuncture as an alternative to medication for pain management. Could you discuss the science behind acupuncture’s pain-relief mechanisms and its effectiveness for various types of pain?
There’s tons of science behind it, but even in the fourteen years since I started acupuncture school, it seems the explanation has changed a few times. Many studies to show acupuncture can relieve pain, but the individual studies focus on different methods of action. I believe research will only ever show different pieces of the puzzle.
This isn’t something I focus on, because I honestly don’t care about it, and nobody who comes to see me does, either. I know it works, and they know it works. The “why” behind it is an abstraction. But as long as we’re going to deal in abstractions, I prefer using the classical ones based on Yin and Yang, or Qi and Blood flowing, or organ systems. These are easier for people to visualize, and easier to take action on for self-care so they don’t need me in the long run.
For example, take lower back pain, which in traditional diagnosis may result from different conditions called something like a Kidney Deficiency, or Dampness, or Qi Stagnation. To someone who is suffering, it doesn’t matter what you call it, it matters how it happened and what you do about it. In addition to acupuncture, the prescriptions in these cases are to get more rest, watch your diet, and do various stretches or Qigong moves, respectively.
I try to be very practical. In practical terms, I help resolve pain from orthopedic issues, inflammation, and even internal pains all the time. But you have to be careful with the latter. I once got yelled at by a prominent physician. Our mutual patient had developed a pretty serious colorectal cancer. She had been complaining of digestive pain and other issues, and her GI doctor wasn’t taking it seriously. I worked on the symptoms while regularly urging her to find a new gastroenterologist, which she finally did. This physician told me on the phone that he didn’t care if the patient kept getting acupuncture, “because it doesn’t do anything.” In his next breath, he said, basically, “How dare you make her feel so good that she didn’t seek care?” Of course, he’d gotten the story wrong, as I was the only one telling her to get specialized medical care. But in the meantime, I wasn’t going to let her suffer on a daily basis, so I worked on her pain. And I also took the high road and didn’t quite point out to this physician that his statements of “acupuncture doesn’t do anything” and “acupuncture eased her pain too effectively” were somewhat mutually exclusive. (This patient came through the experience very well, by the way.)
Research in acupuncture is ongoing, and some studies have shown promising results in various fields. Can you discuss any recent breakthroughs or emerging trends in acupuncture research and its potential applications?
No.
It’s not that I’m completely uninterested in this, it’s just that, again, research has no bearing on what I do every day in my clinic. It’s easy to look up the studies, and they’ll show different needle protocols that usually aren’t too different from what I’d come up with if left to my own deductive devices. But in my case, I start with the individual person sitting in front of me, and what they’re saying, and how their emotions are moving, and what they know about their symptoms, when they come and what makes them better or worse. I don’t care about the names of different fields or conditions. These have changed a thousand times since acupuncture existed. They are written on the wind.
I care about the very real person sitting in front of me. The whole person. How everything fits together in their life.
I used to treat a woman who had stabbing, blinding migraines every day. She was this very practical, no-nonsense person, actually one of my first patients in private practice. She had done her research and found out that acupuncture was effective for migraines, so by god she was going to try it. And… it worked. She had fewer and less-intense migraines if we did a weekly treatment, sometimes none at all. AND I got to know her, got to sense how her whole self moved around in the world, and asked the right questions. Together, we discovered that the migraines really started when she was on her way home from work . . . sometimes when she put her hand on the doorknob to enter the house. And we talked about her home life and her responsibilities there, and different ways she was interpreting these things as stresses in her mind and body. Once we really got working on that level, she could go months without a headache at all.
Research is only going to reveal the effectiveness of different techniques across a population, and yes, it can show that the techniques are statistically very significant, and that’s great. But it’s not going to show what’s happening in any individual person, it’s just not. I’d much rather focus on that.
If you want to read more about Dr. David, please visit https://www.getverywell.com/
