Hello Selby Acupuncture followers and patients!

My name is Kennedy Sharp, a licensed acupuncturist joining the Selby Acupuncture team. I am so looking forward to collaborating with this fantastic group of holistic health care providers and staff! I am using this Healthy Living post to introduce myself to everyone and tell my personal story in finding Chinese Medicine.

I am from Minneapolis and have a background in sociology and psychology from Macalester College in St. Paul. I am an avid soccer player and while a captain at Macalester during my senior year, I went down during the first scrimmage of the fall with a tibial plateau fracture. I was out the season and completely heartbroken. After faithfully sticking to my treatment plan of physical therapy, ultrasound, massage, and chiropractic care, I still had residual knee pain. It was the following spring that I found and tried Chinese Medicine and acupuncture.

Needless to say, it changed my life. My knee pain was gone after two treatments and I credit this to the fact that Chinese Medicine is a holistic system of medicine. The practitioner addressed my emotional state in her assessment of my case. My heart spirit had been completely jarred by the injury; I felt derailed, angry, confused, and grief –struck over the loss of what I thought was my final season of soccer.  My body couldn’t let go of my knee pain because my mind and emotional state had gone untouched in the previous therapies.

I continued further care after the knee pain was gone, while at that time, I was anxiety ridden and far from living in the present moment.  I am a type one diabetic and was worried about potential complications, struggling to accept that I had a chronic illness (even though I had been diagnosed at the age of 14), impending graduation from college without a real plan, the list went on as it tends to do with anxiety!  After each treatment, I was calm, which was a foreign, yet welcomed state.

I became intrigued with Chinese Medicine.  While I loved my endocrinologist, I felt that my standard Western care was lacking in that it only addressed my numbers and stats: blood sugars, hemoglobin A1c, height, weight, blood pressure, kidney and liver function, cholesterol, etc. While all of this is extremely important and necessary, through acupuncture and Chinese medicine, I had experienced a system of natural medicine that recognized me as an entire individual: mind, body, and spirit. My whole state felt at ease and the additional reinforcement of more balanced blood sugars gave me direct evidence that Chinese Medicine was essential to my self-care.

A year later in the fall of 2005, I chose to enroll at the American Academy of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine, which was where I met Julie, Sara G, and Sara Beth. I have been practicing since May 2009 and have worked at various clinics, but feel that I am finally coming home in a long-overdue arrival at Selby Acupuncture.  I am thankful for my knee injury, as I now see it did not derail me, it put me where I needed to be, on the path to Chinese Medicine and Selby Acupuncture.

Chinese Medicine is preventative medicine, healthy living at its finest core. I personally receive regular acupuncture treatments and take herbs as they give me the essential energy to balance my blessed life: to test my blood sugar frequently, take insulin, cook and eat according to my constitution, chase and raise two young boys, play soccer, attempt yoga, and build a career that I cherish and feel fortunate to practice – the art and science of Chinese Medicine.

I cannot wait to work with each and every one of you, wherever you might be on your path.

Peace,

Kennedy

Kennedy will be available to see patients Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays. To make an appointment, call us at 651-224-6678 or use Genbook online scheduling.