Needle Master

Haknam Kim, PhD, LAc

Born in South Korea, Dr. Kim grew up with his uncle who was a profound acupuncturist. When he was about 10 years old, he started to have pains in the lower back for no reason and he used to get acupuncture treatments and herbal medicines from his uncle.

After moving to the United States, while attending Arizona State University in his 20's, he was diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis, and realized it had been the cause of his pain. It is an autoimmune disease of which cause and cure are unkown.

Symptoms include muscle stiffness and severe pain in back, neck, and shoulders, and it progresses until patients get what is called bamboo spine with inability to bend their back due to extreme stiffness and pain. He was barely able to walk and he couldn't even dress himself.

He went back to Korea to seek help. After years of taking acupuncture treatment and getting help from his rheumatologist, he began to live a "close to normal" life. He decided to study acupuncture and Eastern medicine to be an acupuncturist for people like him since he knew how it is to be in pain and the acupuncture is a natural yet very effective treatment method.

With his background as both a patient and acupuncture student in Korea, Dr. Kim moved back to the United States and earned master's and doctorate degrees in acupuncture and Eastern medicine in California while working at an acupuncture clinic as a clinic director.

Now, he is serving Mesa and Gilbert area in Arizona specializing in pain management, facial care, mental health, sports injuries, and other customized treatments. He constantly works hard towards his goal of harmonizing each client’s body and chi (life force in body) so that he can improve the symptoms and ultimately slow down the aging process of our body.