Today we’d like to introduce you to Sean Davis.
Hi Sean, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
It’s 1990 and between Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and The Karate Kid martial arts were all the rage. My parents had me signed up around the age of six or seven and it was my favorite form of exercise from that moment forward. Fast forward to the early 2000’s and I was training in traditional Chinese martial arts while also attending UCSD. I had been carrying a heavy book bag with 1 strap and I started developing pretty severe, chronic pain in my mid-back. I got an x-ray and lo and behold I had given myself scoliosis. Someone suggested I get some acupuncture treatments from one of the guys I studied martial arts with. After just a few sessions my back pain was finally starting to resolve and not come back, but even more profound to me, my stress and anxiety levels started to drop and it started to become easier to communicate and relate to other people around me. I hadn’t even realized I was so stressed out at the time. I was hooked.
I had some bad summer internships in Fortune 500 companies and Video Game Studios and decided I would much rather help someone else get through another stressful week at the office than be someone who was struggling to get through a stressful week at the office. When I graduated from UCSD I was burnt out on academia so I took a job up in LA, but I knew it wasn’t my long term goal. Things were going a little too well, I was making good money up in LA, but also totally miserable and surrounded by people who were trapped in a codependent relationship with their job. Destiny spoke when I was abruptly run over by a car while trying to ride my motorcycle home. While recovering from my injury I was given just enough space and objectivity to see that it was time to move back to San Diego and start school for Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The biggest obstacle for me was Chinese Medicine school and the state licensing exam. I averaged 20.5 units per semester throughout my 11 semesters at the Pacific College of Oriental Medicine, in part because I wanted to take extra massage courses. The amount of information that has to be memorized and internalized is truly staggering and the pace I set for myself allowed no breaks. In the end I would say it was worth it, but towards the end of my scholastic career it began to really affect my health. Coming from a background of Chinese Martial Arts where everything is about longevity and trying to find inner peace and harmony I would try so hard to take care of myself physically, emotionally, and spiritually, but the second I walked into another class I could feel the air deflating out of me. The first six months or so of private practice were also pretty terrifying. There are no jobs waiting for you when you graduate with a degree in Chinese Medicine, you have to start a business. I’m very fortunate that my good friend Rich at TragicMedia was able to throw together a website and help me to start building some online presence, but there was still that period of time where I was living off of my credit card, paying rent for an office for a business that generated almost no revenue at first.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
We are Licensed Acupuncturists who are Certified in Sports Medicine Acupuncture. My whole practice is really focused around that Sports Medicine Acupuncture Certification (C.SMA or SMAC). The SMAC series is a really big deal; it’s 14 classes organized into four modules, each with an emphasis on a different part of the body and a corresponding cadaver lab. We learn functional movement assessments, postural assessments, orthopedic assessments and special tests along with a specialized form of acupuncture that involves stimulating muscle motor points to help instantaneously change the tension of a muscle and its ability to communicate with the brain. We see everyone from six year old to 90+ year old, office works to professional and Olympic level athletes. Being the first practitioner to cause a big shift in someone who’s had serious acute or very long term chronic pain is incredibly rewarding.
Can you share something surprising about yourself?
I’m a 4th or 5th generation San Diegan on my dad’s side. My Great Grandmother, Grandmother, cousin, and his kids all went to Ocean Beach Elementary School. Both of my grandfathers were Navy and were stationed here in San Diego. My parents met in high school, got married shortly after and had me shortly after that and I ended up having my dad’s same high school chemistry teacher 20 years later.
Pricing:
- Initial Appointment is $165
- Follow up Appointments are $95
Contact Info:
- Email: info@SDSportsAcu.com
- Website: SDSportsAcu.com
- Instagram: @SDSportsAcu
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/San-Diego-Sports-Acupuncture-446512892449479
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/san-diego-sports-acupuncture-san-diego?osq=San+Diego+Sports+Acupuncture
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