Meet Zachary Parsons and Rachel Hartstein of Acupuncture Partners in East Lexington

Today we’d like to introduce you to Zachary Parsons and Rachel Hartstein.

Zachary and Rachel, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
Zach: When I was about 12, I had my first acupuncture treatment, at which time, the guy pulled my mom aside and said that I should consider going into the profession. As I got older, I developed a fascination with the workings of the human body and that plus a deep love of anatomy made me a great candidate for acupuncture school. Along the way, I also studied many dance forms, martial arts, movement kinesiology, craniosacral therapy and Chinese herbal medicine. Rachel and I met in an Aikido class when we were both teaching at New England School of Acupuncture. Though we’re no longer there, I still love to teach at the post-graduate level and to mentor students.

Rachel: Zach is a lifelong learner and an amazing scholar! When we met, I thought he was the nicest guy ever but later discovered, it was a match made in geek heaven. On our first dates, we’d just talk for hours about healthcare paradigms, clinical revelations, classical Chinese medical scholarship and single malt whiskies.

Has it been a smooth road?
Rachel: We are so lucky to be able to support ourselves doing something we love, are good at and which allows us to set our own schedule. But working with people who are in physical, emotional and/or mental pain is not an easy job. It took us a long time to start a family because we were worried about our ability to take care of people all day at work and then at home as well. In fact, I recently shifted my work from primarily seeing clients to managing the office full-time because the demands of work, home and family were taking a toll on my ability to practice self-care.

Zach: Between me and Sarah (our associate and an amazing practitioner), we’ve been able to cover Rachel’s clients, plus all of our own. It’s been a bit of a challenge figuring out how to schedule everybody that needs to see us, but it’s a wonderful problem to have.

So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Acupuncture Partners story. Tell us more about the business.
Zach: As far as specialties go, I’m the the go-to guy for muscular pain and structural disorders, such as back, neck, shoulder, hip and knee pain due to either overuse, age or injury. I’m also pretty well-known for helping those suffering from concussion using both acupuncture and craniosacral therapy. Sarah is a Reiki master as well as an acupuncturist; she teaches Reiki and runs group healing sessions about once a month out of our office. Additionally, she specializes in gastrointestinal disorders and knows tons about diet and nutrition. Rachel is someone to whom other acupuncturists refer for pediatric work, and both Sarah and I use her techniques. Although Rachel’s little clients miss her, it’s been so much fun for me to work with kids! Even when they are in discomfort, they bring so much joy into our office. And since our techniques are gentle and painless, there tends to be a lot of laughter and very few tears.

Rachel: We consider education a core part of our mission, so listening to questions and answering honestly is very important to us and to our clientele. And, we’ve been doing this long enough to know what we DON’T know, and have zero problem recommending other practitioners from our extensive database of referrals.

How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
Rachel: We’ve seen so much integration of acupuncture into the mainstream consciousness in the past 10-15 years and I think we’ll only see more of that. When I started studying in 1992, people would look at me funny when I told them I was doing acupuncture and ask what it was. Now, there are few folks that haven’t heard of acupuncture: it’s on television and in movies and the star athletes and musicians all have their acupuncturists. I think, we’ll see more diversity of business models and delivery systems as our numbers continue to grow and communities with different needs demand different types of services. And of course, the ongoing challenge of getting insurance companies to pay for treatment will continue.

Contact Info:

• Address: 62 Massachusetts Avenue
  East Lexington, MA 02420
• Website: acupartners.com
• Phone: 781-860-8808
• Email: info@acupartners.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AcupuncturePartners

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