Many of us of certain generations may remember the iconic scene in Sex and The City season six when Charlotte, desperate to get pregnant, resorts to acupuncture to stimulate her fertility. As we watched, we all felt a collective relief when Charlotte was able to block the city noise and her own negative thoughts, breath, and give in to the therapy.

That was 2003. Fast-forward to today, where data from the National Health Interview Survey showed that the use of acupuncture in the US has more than doubled between then and now: 1% in 2002 vs. 2.2% in 2022. And according to the World Health Organization, acupuncture is used in 103 of the 129 countries that reported data.

But what exactly is acupuncture, besides the layman’s idea of tiny needles being inserted into the skin? What are the benefits? Why is the practice mainstreaming, and why now?

At a high level, acupuncture is a technique in which therapists insert very fine needles into the skin to treat a range of health problems. It has been used in some form for at least 2,500 years. Its roots are found in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), but it has gained popularity worldwide since the 1970’s. Issues that acupuncture is known to treat include pain, mental health (stress, anxiety, and depression), sleep problems, digestion, women’s health (hormonal imbalances and fertility), arthritis, migraines, and more. If it seems like acupuncture can be all things to all people, that’s because it is—and that’s kind of the point. 

To learn more about acupuncture, and why it may have reached a cultural tipping point, BeautyMatter sat down with Dr. Nicole Glathe, Doctor of Alternative Medicine and Head of Product and Service Innovation at acupuncture and TCM brand WTHN (pronounced “within”), which operates three locations across Manhattan and Brooklyn in New York City. The clinics offer a range of services from acupuncture to massage and beyond, in addition to a line of herbs and products for at-home use between sessions. In operation since 2018, the brand’s overall mission is to democratize TCM and acupuncture, evangelizing its benefits and bringing a standardized experience to a wider audience. 

Can you describe what acupuncture is and what its benefits are? 

Acupuncture is one branch of TCM which involves putting needles into specified points into the body to have an effect. It is used in combination with Tui na (Chinese massage), herbs, cupping (vacuum/suction therapy), moxibustion (heat therapy), and others. There are many studies on its benefits. Acupuncture stimulates points on the body that send signals to the brain, which have varying effects ranging from reducing pain, stimulating circulation, and reducing inflammation. That’s the Western lens. From a TCM lens, it’s about creating balance and homeostasis. It helps the body heal itself. Realistically the overlap between Western medicine and TCM is that self-healing aspect. 

What do your patients come to your clinics to treat? 

Acupuncture is best known for pain, widespread pain. That’s what most people come into the door for. But the World Health Organization has approved acupuncture for 140 conditions. There are so many benefits that are well-known and well-studied. These include mental health (stress, anxiety, depression), sleep, digestion, and women's health. We see so many different things. We treat anyone seeking anything. TCM is a philosophy, and we try to understand the symptoms for each person individually. 

What do you believe are the drivers that are leading to acupuncture reaching a tipping point in adoption? Why now? 

Acupuncture has only become a licensed profession in the last 30 to 40 years. That kicked things off in the US. It became this field where there were more non-believers than believers. People thought it was snake oil. Now we’re getting to a point where holistic medicine is becoming more recognized. 

We began in 2018 pre-Covid, but it did play an interesting role. People began taking their health more seriously and recognizing that preventative medicine was important. People with risk factors like diabetes and obesity recognized how seriously Covid could affect them. We want to keep people healthy and be able to fight things off more effectively. 

Also, people’s access to information is increasing. People are using Google Scholar, a search engine for scientific studies, to access medical publications. They have more information at their fingertips. 

What is behind the growth of WTHN? 

There was a need for a standardized experience. The industry is very fractured and made up of individual practitioners. We want people to know what to expect. It’s the idea of accessibility. We have three locations in New York, all on the ground floor, with reasonable pricing (treatments begin at $90). Price was a barrier to entry to understanding how effective the medicine could be. We also talk about TCM in a way that people can understand, while still respecting the medicine. Ultimately we want to be about education.

What void are you filling in patients' lives? 

It provides such a different experience, especially when patients are coming in consistently over time—once a week, or as little as once a month. People see us more consistently than a Western doctor. And we fill this gap of being a therapist, friend, confidante. We sit in an interesting place in people’s lives. We make people feel cared for. If you know you’re cared for, you actually improve just from that. Our therapists are incredibly empathic. You find people who are truly there to serve their patients, whereas Western doctors don’t necessarily have time for that. We provide healing, we improve the quality of people’s lives. People get pregnant using acupuncture. We are changing people’s lives for the positive.

Speaking of Western medicine, is it being legitimized from that standpoint? 

Studies of acupuncture are interesting. The medicine doesn’t fit into a perfect mold of gold standard research, which is a double-blind placebo study—what would be the placebo? It has had a hard time getting legitimized through that lens. But when you zoom out, it’s clearly working. There’s the ability to view the whole person vs. one specific effect. I’ll use this metaphor: Western medicine is like using a flashlight to spotlight one specific concern. But you can’t see what’s happening in the rest of that dark room. One specific thing is all that is focused on instead of illuminating the whole picture. It’s exciting that we can have this whole-person effect. We are not just treating pain, but we are treating emotional aspects too like anxiety, depression, frustration, and lack of sleep that is all stemming from the pain. 

So the effects of acupuncture are still hard to quantify and measure. 

Yes. Society believes in science, but science isn’t telling the whole picture. We just haven’t discovered it yet. We always need open-mindedness to change our view. TCM is so ancient that it transcends both Eastern and Western medicine in a beautiful way. 

What role is WTHN playing in the market? 

We want to introduce as many people to this medicine as possible. Fifty percent of our patients have never tried acupuncture before. We provide a great experience where people feel like they can ask questions, they get the result they want, and it’s at the right price point.  

We are also very passionate about our therapists. Acupuncture schools require that everyone obtains a master’s degree to practice, with an option to do a doctorate. It is an extensive education. But what they don’t teach is how to run a business. Most people end up as a sole proprietor or a business owner with no business experience. We fill a gap. It’s a great place for people to land. And whether someone is brand new to the field or has 20 years of experience but is exhausted from running their own business, we employ both. We are also a community. We have 45 acupuncturists between the three locations. For example, a patient came in with neurological symptoms. The first therapist wasn’t knowledgeable in that area, and referred her to another therapist who was experienced. That therapist then shared back to the online community to share the great results. We foster the field for practitioners and give them a lot of training on how to speak to the patients. That’s another thing schools don’t teach. 

Where is the future headed for TCM, acupuncture and WTHN?

We have lofty goals to introduce as many people as possible to TCM. That’s where we’re constantly headed. We want to open new locations where we offer a hospitable, standardized experience. My hope for TCM is that it becomes more well-respected. I think we will see with AI that we can prove out how it’s working in an unbiased way. It will be exciting to see how that changes the field. I think it will evolve from a research and respect standpoint. More insurance companies will cover it and preventative medicine overall.

What do you want the world to know about TCM and acupuncture? Why do you want to welcome them to WHTN? 

I want people to know that it works. It can have incredible side benefits. People come in for their neck pain and they stay for years because we help their sleep, their stress, and they enjoy the experience. I want people to know how much we care. We started WTHN because our founder had a life-altering experience with the medicine. I think everyone in the world could benefit from TCM and our services. I want everyone to give TCM and us a try.