My Story
When Dr. Keri was a Division 1 cross country and track athlete at UMBC, she recognized that her inability to fulfill her athletic potential was mental, not physical. Furthermore, the more emotional pressure she put on herself, the more her body shut down (her asthma got worse and she developed plantar fasciitis). The athletic trainers were able to help her with her physical pain, but she found that there was little to no support for her mental/emotional block to competing. She became inspired to pursue a system of medicine that both acknowledged and treated the connection between physical and mental/emotional symptoms.
My Mission
Dr. Keri is very passionate about changing the way that Americans perceive and approach healthcare. Acupuncturists are essentially primary care providers who operate under a more Eastern, holistic philosophy, so an acupuncturist’s office could be a great first stop for a patient with almost any health concern.
Dr. Keri is all about de-mystifying Chinese medicine and demonstrating that every patient is unique and therefore should be treated uniquely. Physical and mental/emotional symptoms are intimately connected and relevant to the patient’s health and overall well-being.
Dr. Keri’s ultimate goal is to discover and treat the root cause of her patients’ symptoms so that they can thrive in every aspect of their lives.
De-Mystifying Chinese Medicine
Although modern science cannot totally prove how acupuncture works, there is a clear connection between acupuncture and the nervous system. The nervous system controls and connects both our body and our mind, and is constantly communicating in a feedback loop with our brain. Dr. Keri’s theory is that acupuncture uses needles (and we know that metal conducts electromagnetic energy) to re-calibrate the nervous system (which communicates with electricity), which explains why acupuncture can affect so many different body systems at once.
My Philosophy
Many Americans choose only to seek out a doctor when their symptoms are so severe that they can barely function in their daily life. Dr. Keri promotes what she refers to as the “Oil Light” philosophy, which encourages patients to get semi-regular maintenance treatments so that they come in for treatment when their symptoms are mild (parallel to when the oil light comes on in a car), so that they never get to the point where their symptoms become severe (parallel to when the engine of the car explodes).