We recently had the chance to connect with Sean Davis L.Ac, C.SMA and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Sean, thank you so much for taking time out of your busy day to share your story, experiences and insights with our readers. Let’s jump right in with an interesting one: What do you think is misunderstood about your business?
A lot of people don’t understand how acupuncture works. It is by far the most common question I get from patients. Of course, the classical texts on Chinese Medicine talk a lot about qi, but what exactly does that mean? Qi is not a real thing, it is a metaphor. It can be used in several different contexts, but it always connotes movement or transformation. That may sound very mystical, but if you look at how it’s used in modern day Chinese language you’ll find examples like “TianQi” which literally translates to “heavenly qi”, but actually just means “weather”. In other words, what is the current state of the “change of the sky” or, what’s the weather??
Our approach at San Diego Sports Acupuncture is informed by modern research. Rather than trying to correct the flow of someone’s qi we’re more interested in stimulating intramuscular motor points that are hardwired into every muscle in the body and act as the muscle’s natural circuit breaker. When we stimulate these motor points it resets the connection between the muscle and the brain and the patient will often feel the muscle twitch and then release. Our patients typically get off the table and feel instant relief, sometimes even after months or years of chronic pain and suffering.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
Hi! My name is Sean Davis and I’m the owner and one of three licensed acupuncturists at San Diego Sports Acupuncture. Not only are we licensed acupuncturists, but we are Certified in Sports Medicine Acupuncture, which requires an additional 15 classes and over 200 hours of training, plus a comprehensive practical exam. We specialize not just in treating aches, pains, and injuries, but in providing an accurate differential diagnosis so we can treat the exact damaged tissue in order to restore the range of motion and eliminate pain.
Like most practitioners of Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine, my journey here was not a straight line. It began in the early 2000’s when I was attending UCSD. I had inadvertently given myself scoliosis by carrying a single strap book bag loaded up with heavy books all over that giant campus. The curvature in my spine was first diagnosed via x-ray by a chiropractor I was seeing to help with the chronic pain I was feeling in my back. It wasn’t until I started getting acupuncture treatments from a friend of mine I studied martial arts with that I noticed complete and lasting relief. The transformation was so subtle, at first all I noticed was that I felt less irritable and it was easier for me to communicate with people. It was only a day or two later that I realized I felt better emotionally because I was no longer having back pain. After a handful of summer jobs and internships in the corporate world I decided I would rather be someone else helping people get through a week at the office than be someone who was struggling to get through a week at the office and thus began my journey into formally studying Chinese Medicine.
Great, so let’s dive into your journey a bit more. Who taught you the most about work?
I was raised primarily by a very strong, single mother who taught me everything, good and bad, about work. My mom never finished college, but she was able to claw her way up the corporate ladder through sheer grit and determination. I watched the toll it took on her throughout my childhood into early adulthood and it was one of the formative experiences that taught me I didn’t want to be another office worker, staring at a computer monitor for 8-10+ hours per day and feeling like I’m expendable whenever the economy gets tough. Only by being my own boss could I truly be the master of my own future and also give myself the capacity to make a living by helping others.
Was there ever a time you almost gave up?
Actually, no. It simply wasn’t an option. In my youngest years I had food insecurity. This wasn’t a problem by the time I hit adolescence, but I was still very much on my own once I graduated from high school. I actually swore into the military and was prepared to join the Army Infantry if I didn’t get into college. With the guidance of a friend of mine who was already enlisted I decided to pursue the one college who accepted by application, UCSD. Good thing, too, because the week before classes started 9/11 happened and if I had joined the infantry I would have lived a very different life. During college I began working in the music industry and after college one of my internships turned into a full-time job working in the music industry in Los Angeles. It was very exciting, but I also recognized that it didn’t align with me on a spiritual level. I really enjoyed helping people, but there’s just too much drugs, alcohol, drama, and corruption and the more I witnessed it the more I knew I needed to find a way out. The problem, at the time, was that I was a young 20-something making good money and it was hard to walk away from that. One fateful night my motorcycle broke down on the freeway and I was struck by a car. I was lucky enough to only have broken my left leg, but I broke it severely and would need several months and 3 surgeries to recover. The moment I went down I decided this was my chance to escape the music industry and go back to school for Chinese Medicine. 4 years later I graduate with a mountain of student loans and started San Diego Sports Acupuncture. I nearly maxed out my credit cards in the first 6 months, but by then my mom was living in Florida. She had lost her job during the 08-09 financial crisis and found employment at a competing company on the other side of the US. I truly had nowhere to run, I, just like she did decades before me, had to grit my teeth and keep pushing forward until I found success. 15 years later and we’ve been rated the #1 acupuncture clinic in San Diego 2 years in a row!
I think our readers would appreciate hearing more about your values and what you think matters in life and career, etc. So our next question is along those lines. What would your closest friends say really matters to you?
People who know me best would say what matters most to me is compassion and empathy. It’s sorely lacking in this world on a global stage, but it can still be found in our day-to-day lives if we strive to cultivate it in ourselves and share it with others.
Okay, so let’s keep going with one more question that means a lot to us: What is the story you hope people tell about you when you’re gone?
I hope people see that I put my heart and soul into my business, my friends, and my family. I hope they’ll have said that I made a positive impact in their lives and the lives of so many others who came to my clinic, sometimes in despair, and found a path to a better tomorrow.
