Who seeks acupuncture more, women or men?

In my practice, the number of women I see is well more than double the number of men. Women’s reproductive systems are more complicated than men’s, thus women are more likely to seek care for hormone-related issues. However, in a family practice such as mine, this should not account for the high proportion of female patients.  Given that I treat pain, stress, insomnia, digestive issues–really anything related to inflammation, where are the men? I know that men are active, have pain and injury, experience stress and insomnia, so how are they treating themselves? Or are they?

I often hear from women that they are trying to get their male partners to try acupuncture. They love it, and just know that their partner would also love it. More often than not, it’s the wife or girlfriend who makes the appointment for her partner.  When I probe my female patients as to why their partners are hesitant to try acupuncture, they typically tell me that their partners don’t like going to the doctor or are afraid of needles. As some women describe it, he’s got to have his arm dangling from his body in order to seek medical attention.

This begs the question, what does it take to reach out to men? Do men need to be in crisis to seek medical care?

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