Good Neighbor Podcast: Fort Collins
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Good Neighbor Podcast: Fort Collins
E51: Needles Don't Have to Hurt: Debunking Acupuncture Myths with Eric
From a childhood martial arts class to a thriving acupuncture practice, Eric Richards' journey into Chinese medicine began with watching his mother find relief from debilitating migraines. Now, after 30 years of helping Fort Collins residents overcome pain and inflammation, Eric shares his story and expertise on the Good Neighbor Podcast.
"Acupuncture doesn't have to hurt," Eric explains, dispelling the biggest misconception about his practice. In fact, about half his patients fall asleep during treatment, finding deep relaxation alongside pain relief. Specializing in treating athletes, weekend warriors, and those with arthritis, Eric employs traditional acupuncture alongside herbal injections, cupping, and tuina to address inflammation and muscle tension.
The conversation takes a personal turn as Eric opens up about recent challenges—losing his beloved dog, Mico, and facing unexpected unemployment when Village Medical restructured. These setbacks became the catalyst for launching Acupuncture by Eric in January 2024. His resilience mirrors his treatment philosophy: "We try to get you back to what you love and let you get at it." Unlike practices that create dependency, Eric focuses on effective treatments that return patients to active living. When not treating patients, he's paddleboarding, competing in Spartan races, or enjoying Colorado's outdoor playground—a lifestyle that helps him understand his athletic patients' needs firsthand.
Ready to experience affordable, effective treatment for pain or inflammation? Discover how acupuncture might change your life the way it changed Eric's family. Visit https://acupuncturebyeric.com/ to learn more about this ancient healing art and its modern applications.
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Nick George.
Speaker 2:Welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast. Are you in need of a natural path and practice designed to ease pain, calm stress and restore your body's natural balance? One might be closer than you think. Today I have the pleasure of introducing your good neighbor, eric Richards, with Acupuncture by Eric Eric, how's it going?
Speaker 3:It's going great. How about you, Nick?
Speaker 2:Excellent. We're excited to learn all about you and your business, your practice. Tell us about it.
Speaker 3:Well, I've been in practice in Fort Collins for 30 years. I started out with a pain management center that unfortunately went out of business in 99. So I jumped on to Associates in Family Medicine, worked with them for about 23 years. Then they were bought by Village Medical, so I was with them for a couple of years and then and this this this year, january of 2025, I started acupuncture by Eric. I'm just an acupuncturist, well, not just just, but I'm an acupuncturist. I do all kinds of treatments, from orthopedics to arthritis, treat a lot of aging population as well as athletes. There is injection medication well, herbal injections that I do as well, and then cupping and tuina and all those other Chinese medical modalities, but to treat mostly just inflammation and relax muscles, increase blood flow. That such a thing.
Speaker 2:How did you get into this practice?
Speaker 3:That's a common question I get a lot. How I actually got interested in it? I was in martial arts as a kid. Very young about eight, nine years old. My mother had tremendous headaches. Our whole family dynamic was affected by it. One of the people that was in my martial art class was an acupuncturist. He kind of talked me into pursuing trying to get my mom interested in it because he saw how it affected our whole family. So she went, started going to some treatments for him just kind of changed her entire life. She less intense, less frequent migraines as well as daily headaches were almost gone. So it changed our whole family dynamics, which of course sparked my interest in into pursuing that and actually giving back to the community for that same way.
Speaker 2:Wow, what are some myths and misconceptions in your industry.
Speaker 3:So a popular one is acupuncture hurts because it's a needle insertion. It doesn't necessarily have to hurt. Sometimes it does have a needle insertion feeling, but most all the time people are very pleasantly surprised that it is painless and in fact most people do relax and it's treated for anxiety and stress as well. And most people do fall asleep. Probably 50% of patients fall asleep during the treatment. So misconception that it's a painful procedure is probably the biggest one.
Speaker 2:Who are your target customers and how would you attract them? How do you attract them now?
Speaker 3:So that's mostly athletes or weekend warriors as well as more of the aging population, of arthritis type of thing. So it's mostly pain patients, a lot of joint issues as well. How I attract them mostly it's all word of mouth. Which is biggest compliment is when somebody knows that you just treated them. They had back pain for years and four treatments and they changed their life. Well, that's, they start telling their neighbors, as well as their friends and family, and that's the biggest one. But I do get a lot from family physicians around town and specialists as well around town, and specialists as well.
Speaker 2:Have you thought about hosting your own podcast with these success stories?
Speaker 3:as your co-hosts or guests. Oh, I've never thought about that. That would be an interesting pursuit there.
Speaker 2:That's the new word of mouth. Outside of work, what do you do for fun?
Speaker 3:Well, I do pretty much everything. So, um, do cycle, um, uh, in the past mostly mountain biking, but everything outdoors is what I do currently. I'm more uh into um axe throwing leagues as well as cornhole leagues. Uh, I do a lot of paddleboard. Started getting into paddleboard racing the last couple of years. I do Spartan races, which is an obstacle course, kind of like a tough mudder type of a thing, then hike with my wife and my kids, et cetera, and then anything outdoors, but in the winter it's more skiing, snowboarding, ice fishing, snowshoeing so pretty much anything that's outside.
Speaker 2:Let's switch gears. Can you describe a hardship or life challenge that you overcame and how it made you stronger? What comes to mind?
Speaker 3:Well, the biggest one that comes to mind is well, in last July I lost my soulmate dog. He was my everything and so that kind of it was a very shocker. Just left one day. He had a heart issue that we didn't really know about but he fell in the backyard during the day. So that kind of threw off all of last summer. So that was last July. And then in November I got laid off of Village Medical. They went in a different way and laid off a bunch of providers and that made me have to do a life switch. So definitely had a lot left to give in the acupuncture realm. So opening up my own practice. So that took a lot of effort to get through. So a lot of family, my wife, friends, all support group helping me through that for both of those for 2024. So 2024 was the biggest problem recently.
Speaker 2:Me too, Eric. Please tell our listeners one thing that they should remember about acupuncture by Eric.
Speaker 3:Well, probably that it treats pretty much any type of inflammation, muscle relaxant type of thing that you might have for a condition. It's not painful at all, it's more affordable than you think would be and it isn't something that you have to do consistently. We try to get you back to what you love and let you get at it.
Speaker 2:How can our listeners learn more about Acupuncture by Eric?
Speaker 3:Well, that's right there in the name, is what? So the website is acupuncturebyericcom, so that's the easiest way to do that. I'm not on social media. I don't really like social media, so I'm not on that aspect. But on the web they can get more information about how to get ahold of me, as well as some links on acupuncture in general.
Speaker 2:Well, Eric, I really appreciate you being on the show. We wish you and your practice the best moving forward. Well, thank you really appreciate you being on the show.
Speaker 3:We wish you and your practice the best moving forward. Well, thank you.
Speaker 1:Nice meeting you, nick. Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to gnpfortcollinscom. That's gnpfortcollinscom, or call 970-438-0825.