Meet Dr. Laura Parks | Acupuncturist & Certified Health Coach

We had the good fortune of connecting with Dr. Laura Parks and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Dr. Laura, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
When I graduated with my master’s degree from acupuncture school in 2010, I dedicated my life to establishing an acupuncture and integrative medicine practice that would truly serve patients with chronic, complex diseases in a way that would bring solutions to their health concerns, like chronic pain or infertility. Since then, I’ve specialized in infertility, autoimmune and neurological conditions, like lupus, lyme’s disease, Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS), neuropathy, pain management of MS, migraines, and POTS.

Acupuncture excels in providing long-term relief of these and many other complex conditions. Combining acupuncture with other forms of integrative medicine, such as vitamin injections (B12 shots to reduce inflammation in the nerves, for example), Medical Ozone Therapy, and ATP Resonance BioTherapyTM provide better results for chronic conditions in half the time.

All of this combined with my training as a Certified Health Coach, has given me the tools to educate patients on best lifestyle choices for wellness, lowering inflammation and their A1C.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Initially, I was discouraged upon graduation by many of my mentors in my decision to follow my husband to Michigan to open an acupuncture clinic, knowing not a single person. My mentors pointed out that there were hardly any acupuncturists in that area of the country at that time, and that it would be a constant project to educate the public on the many ways acupuncture can treat ailments and chronic pain.

Instead of a problem, I saw an opportunity to be of service to others. From my perspective, there were so few acupuncturists in the community I moved to in Michigan -it was vastly underserved, and in dire need of pain relief solutions. This became more than validated when I opened my very first acupuncture clinic in Temperance, Michigan in January 2011. Admittedly, I was boot-strapping it a bit, opening on a shoe-string budget and doing a lot of ‘Gorilla Marketing,’ pound the pavement type techniques. I decided to hang a huge banner that said “Free Acupuncture Today” above my new clinic door, and pass out about 100 flyers describing my Grand Opening “Free Acupuncture Week”… I didn’t expect many to show up that week, and ended up I nearly ran out of acupuncture needles as I saw 100 people that first week.

With a bang! 100 patients the first week of opening became 100-150 appointments a week consistently within a month of opening, treating 6-7 patients per hour. Truly, I was not expecting to be this busy upon opening. In my 3 year acupuncture graduate school training program I was seeing 1 patient per hour, not 7. I was happily surprised to see that my new community loved acupuncture and were more than ready to welcome me and my clinic.

The winters in Michigan are everything people say it is, and more. I would call it ‘The Artic Tundra’ each winter, the cold wind cuts right down to the bone. Not one for cold weather, after 3 winters and my husband finishing his Master’s degree at The University of Toledo (Ohio), it was time for us to return to our home (fairly) sunny Maryland. I still miss the super sweet, warm and welcoming people of Michigan.

After 11 years back in Baltimore County, Maryland with an acupuncture and integrative medicine clinic that employed other acupuncturists, mentored students and other acupuncturists, and treated many thousands of patients, the biggest challenge came during the Covid shutdowns of 2020, four years ago. As I was treating fertility patients who had planned IVF cycles when the shutdowns began in 2020, the fertility centers then shutdown indefinitely, which turned out to be about 3 or 4 months. Some fertility patients did not have 3 months to wait, and a few aged out of the fertility centers within that time. Most fertility centers won’t work with women over the age of 42 in Maryland.

With the arrival of this new disease in 2020, and the subsequent treatment of it, I found myself as a doctor of Chinese Medicine in unknown territory… Patients coming in 20 years younger than average with severe neuropathy overnight not feeling their feet, or Bell’s Palsy (paralysis of the left side of their face), or young adults barely 20 being diagnosed with MS. The fertility patients also presented often with mysterious prolonged menstrual cycle disruptions that suspended ovulation for months at a time. If a patient can’t ovulate, they cannot get pregnant (including IVF, they need to produce ovulation in order to do an egg retrieval.)

These were my most challenging moments, to be on a medical roller coaster with my patient population, waiting to see what would happen and if these new conditions or new versions of medical conditions were temporary or permanent for each patient while doing our best to remedy each ailment with acupuncture. However, I was relieved to find many of these ailments were resolved with acupuncture after a short time, and some creative acupuncture treatment plans.

What set me apart in the practice of treating patients, was to first listen to each patient, empathize with them, and believe them. Often, a patients first comment during initial medical intake would be, “my doctor didn’t believe me when I told them…” (regarding their symptoms, their condition, and what the patient thinks may be causing it.) It’s almost always followed by a large sigh of relief from the patient. My favorite results are when we get a couple pregnant after every doctor has given up on them, or when a patient is able to throw their walking cane away because I’ve helped them walk again.

This year, I decided to relocate to Greenville, South Carolina to be closer to my family and especially so that my young son could see his grandparents on a regular basis. The weather is amazing, the people are so kind and friendly here. I am working on opening my acupuncture and integrative medicine clinic here in Greenville in January 2025, and have begun a Wait List for patients to begin care here in Greenville in January. In the meantime, I’ve used my 14 years of being a fertility acupuncturist to design an online fertility prep program, “The Fertile Myrtle Program TM” to increase the success rate of IVF by 90% that women can utilize from anywhere in the country.

I’m beyond excited to bring my almost 15 years of clinical experience in acupuncture and integrative medicine to Greenville, South Carolina and assist with helping fertility patients have the baby they’ve been dreaming of, as well as help all the patients who have been told by their doctors, “there’s nothing more they can do”… usually I can help significantly in providing a pain-free future, and helping patients to get back to doing what they love.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Visiting Falls Park on the Reedy River inspired me fall in love with Greenville. It’s beautiful, peaceful, invigorating and really can be stunning. The whole downtown area of Greenville is so nice. I’ve never walked a city so serene. Every time I visit downtown, I feel safe, and an excitement of viewing a city that is going through it’s ‘coming of age’ as it matures into the treasure most already know it to be, Greenville is officially on the map!

As a mom of a young child, I was so impressed by all the cute, fun places to take my son. We love Runway Park which is lined with airplanes and located in a small private airport, you can watch the cute prop planes and Cessnas coming and going while the little one plays. My son’s happy place is also Big Air trampoline park. I’m quite certain he would live there if they’d let him!

We love living in Greer, with the lovely, restored quaint downtown with lots of great restaurants. My family loves pizza and we enjoy having gluten-free options, so we frequent Wild Ace Pizza & Pub. After pizza, we love going to Century Park in Greer to play and slide down the mega slides, cool off in the misters, and get a snowball (on site!) on the way out. Parent Pro Tip: It’s an excellent negotiation tool to lure children out of this very fun park by leveraging the snowball at the exit of the park.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I want to thank Dr. Tonya Weber of Acupuncture & Integrative Medicine, also known as AIM in North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina for mentoring me. Every day in my clinical practice, I utilize her innovative approach in treating neurological conditions, especially neuropathy. I owe my success with neuropathy to studying with her for three years, and because of her sharing the techniques that produce outstanding clinical results, I’ve been able to help patients walk again who were confined to a walker or wheelchair due to their extensive nerve damage from neuropathy.

Website: https://linktr.ee/lauraparks

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cloud9acupuncture/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cloud9acupuncture

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@cloud9acupuncture72/

Other: The Fertile Myrtle Program TM