Medical Acupuncture in Greenville, SC
Medical Acupuncture at IHP Greenville. Dr. Hendry, DAOM — NCBAHM-certified, 25+ yrs experience, hospital-credentialed. Call (864) 365-6156.
"I have been going to Dr. Hendry for 2 months now, for Acupuncture and Supplements. After 2 months, this is the best I have felt in over 2 years. My energy is so much better, my gut and digestion is back to normal."
— Danny Pyatt · March 2026 · Google Review
I worked alongside emergency medicine physicians at Prisma Health for three years, studying acupuncture as an opioid alternative in acute pain presentations. That research context — where acupuncture had to justify itself against measurable outcomes — is what I mean by medical acupuncture. Not a simplified version of classical practice. The full clinical system, applied within a medical framework, with anatomical precision and the neurophysiological evidence to explain what the needles are actually doing.
How Medical Acupuncture Works
Medical acupuncture sessions begin with a conventional history and physical examination assessment alongside the Chinese medical examination. Dr. Hendry evaluates your condition through both Western diagnostic reasoning (nerve distribution, referred pain patterns, tissue loading) and Chinese pattern differentiation. Point selection integrates both frameworks for maximum precision. Documentation is maintained in a format compatible with conventional medical records.
Conditions Treated with Medical Acupuncture
Medical Acupuncture vs. Opioid Prescribing for Non-Cancer Pain
The opioid prescribing crisis was in significant part a failure of mechanistic thinking applied to chronic pain. Opioids were prescribed for non-cancer chronic pain based on their established efficacy in acute and cancer pain, without adequate account of the neuroadaptation that occurs with sustained use: tolerance, opioid-induced hyperalgesia, and the downregulation of endogenous opioid receptor density. Opioid-induced hyperalgesia is a particularly important concept — the medication prescribed to reduce pain can, through mu-receptor downregulation and spinal dynorphin upregulation, paradoxically increase pain sensitivity over time. Medical acupuncture activates the endogenous opioid system without exogenous ligand occupancy. Needle stimulation triggers release of beta-endorphin, enkephalin, and dynorphin at physiological concentrations through a self-limiting neurological cascade that does not produce receptor downregulation. The Prisma Health Emergency Department study demonstrated that this mechanism is operative even in acute pain settings, producing analgesia comparable to low-dose opioids for select presentations without the addiction liability or respiratory depression risk. For patients with chronic non-cancer pain — the population most harmed by long-term opioid prescribing — medical acupuncture offers a pathway to pain reduction that works with central sensitization rather than masking it, supporting functional recovery rather than analgesic dependency.
Research & Evidence
Medical acupuncture applies acupuncture within a fully evidence-based clinical framework, integrating biomedical assessment with point selection grounded in neuroanatomy and pain neuroscience. It is practiced by clinicians who hold doctoral-level training in both biomedical and acupuncture sciences — the model under which our DAOM-credentialed, NCBAHM board-certified physician operates. The hospital-based research context is directly relevant here: Dr. Hendry conducted a landmark 3-year prospective study within the Prisma Health Emergency Department in Greenville, SC, examining acupuncture as an opioid-sparing analgesic for acute pain presentations. The study generated five peer-reviewed publications with 52 citations, representing one of the most rigorous evaluations of real-time, point-of-care acupuncture in an acute clinical setting in the United States. This hospital integration context is consistent with global trends: military, VA, and academic medical center systems have formally incorporated medical acupuncture into pain management pathways. The Schroeder et al. systematic review (Dtsch Arztebl Int, 2012) demonstrated that auricular acupuncture — one component of the Prisma Health protocol — produces significant pain and anxiety reduction in perioperative and emergency contexts, with a favorable safety profile exceeding that of opioid analgesics.
Your First Appointment
Medical acupuncture is suitable for patients who prefer a treatment approach grounded in evidence-based Western medicine principles alongside classical Chinese medicine. Bring any prior imaging, lab work, or medical records from your conventional healthcare providers. Dr. Hendry will review these in the context of your Chinese medical diagnosis.
Why Dr. Hendry for Medical Acupuncture
Dr. Hendry's research at Prisma Health — where acupuncture was evaluated as an ER opioid alternative — is the definition of medical acupuncture applied in a rigorous clinical setting. His hospital privileges and 5 peer-reviewed publications reflect his ability to practice acupuncture at the standards expected of any medical procedure.