“How does a needle in my foot help my shoulder?”

That’s what Lynda (not her real name) asked me, half-laughing, as she settled onto my treatment table for the second time. Lynda had come in to see me with heavy, tight and constant pain in her neck and shoulders.

But as we chatted, we didn’t just talk about her physical pain. We talked about her daughter. The loss of her partner. Her lack of sleep. Her cool dog. Her difficulty breathing when stressed. And then, we started gently shifting things - one needle at a time.

After just one session, the physical pain had changed. So now she was curious: “I feel better - but what is actually happening in my body when I get acupuncture?”

Here’s the simplest way I can explain it:

Your body is always trying to heal. Acupuncture just helps it remember how.

Pain often shows up when the body’s internal ‘fascia’ map gets distorted. Fascia - just FYI - it basically the ‘glad wrap’ that surrounds and links everything in your body and helps every tissue in the body slide and glide over each other. But sometimes, fascia gets tight and stuck - especially after an injury or trauma. Acupuncture needles, when they move thru fascia, can help it release and relax. When we release fascial tension in one spot, it can ripple through the whole system, helping pain shift from the inside out.

Acupuncture doesn’t push or pry. It’s more like gently releasing a snag in the fabric - reminding your system where flow and balance used to be, so it can start to reset. Needles send a local wake-up call: inviting fresh circulation, calming inflammation and helping the whole body soften and re-group.

But why needles in odd places?

Instead of placing needles where you’re experiencing pain, I look at how your body is connected.

Fascia - the connective tissue that wraps around your muscles and organs - runs in long lines through the body, like soft internal scaffolding. If one part gets tight, stuck, or overworked, it can pull on other areas and create pain somewhere completely different.

So when Lynda came in with shoulder pain, I didn’t just look at her shoulder. I needled her foot—because it’s part of the same fascial line that wraps all the way up to her neck and shoulder. Like easing tension at the end of a rope, things started to soften upstream.

“I don’t really understand it,” she said, “but it just feels like everything calms down.”

And that’s the magic. When you release one part of the line, the whole system can start to reset.

And that’s exactly it. Calm is where change begins.

When pain hangs around - especially when it’s tangled up with stress or emotion - your whole system can brace. The body tightens. The fascia holds. The nervous system goes on alert.

Acupuncture doesn’t bulldoze its way through that. Instead, it invites softness. It gives the body a quiet signal: you’re safe now, you can let go.

And when things settle. even just a little, that’s when pain starts to shift. Not because it’s been forced out, but because the body finally feels safe enough to release what it’s been holding.