From English to acupuncture Aaron Greenberg offers evidence-based treatments

by Mara Dresner

Contributing Writer

Photos by Mara Dresner

Although acupuncturist Aaron Greenberg grew up in the world of complementary medicine, he took a circuitous path to find his way to starting his own career in the field.

“My father is Dr. Stephen Greenberg. He was part of the first class of acupuncturists to be trained entirely in the West, as far as I know. At that time acupuncturists weren’t yet licensed in Connecticut,” he said.

Aaron Greenberg practices acupuncture and other modalities at his Old Main Street office.

“My dad spearheaded licensing. It really was the wild West at that time. He fought for that for 12 years and they got it in the mid ‘90s.”

Greenberg grew up in Cromwell and now lives in Meriden. As a child, he was fascinated by his father’s work.

“I grew up watching him and being around his practice. I think the first thing that captured my imagination was as a little kid when I was 6 or 7 years old,” Greenberg said.

He remembers seeing his dad’s textbooks around the house.

“I would be seeing some tome on the dining room table and it was like a secret manual. And I would think my dad’s a wizard.”

He helped out around his father’s office, whether that was tying shoes for elderly patients or removing acupuncture needles. But he didn’t look at this as a career option.

“I proceeded down a very different path. My father didn’t encourage it because he had to struggle so much coming up,” Greenberg said.

Instead, he pursued degrees in English, including an MFA, concentrating on fiction writing.

“I had the idea that I wanted to be a professor,” he said.

At the time, such jobs seemed scarce.

“When I did grad school part one, I realized I’d better learn a trade and thought I know a trade,” he said. “I started massage school in Newington and started working with my dad. When he was getting ready to retire, I went to acupuncture school.”

His father retired in 2018. While English and complementary medicine may not have much in common, Greenberg noted there is a bit of crossover.

“There are a lot of aspects of medicine that I feel enable me to express that part of myself,” he said. “It’s immensely fulfilling. It enables me to engage my body a little more than when I was an academic.”

His Silk Road Health offers a variety of modalities including acupuncture, massage, cupping and myofascial release. The practice was formerly located in Glastonbury and moved to town in 2024.

“[I want] to take the most effective interventions from East Asian and Western physical medicine and combine them in the service of my patients’ health and wellness,” Greenberg said. “I’m always learning more and looking to expand more. I’m still certainly adding to my repertoire.”

He sees patients for a variety of conditions.

Aaron Greenberg moved his practice to Rocky Hill from Glastonbury.

“Pain is by far the most frequent flyer, especially lower back pain. Probably after that is women’s health, menstrual disorders, fertility. Then gastrointestinal [issues], mental health and sleep,” he said.

“An area that’s quite a bit of a specialty is in mental health, insofar as it’s accessed in the body. In East Asian medicine, they don’t have the separation between mind and body,” he added.

“People who are struggling with depression, anxiety, insomnia, major depressive disorder, you always do want to be treating with a licensed mental health professional. You never want to be primary.”

A first visit to Silk Road Health will include taking a thorough medical history as well as a review of a patient’s chief complaint.

“There is a series of physical examinations as well as extensive interviews and then we decide on treatment. It could be any modalities on the website, in combination or not,” he said.

Based on Chinese medicine, Greenberg will check pulses on both wrists, palpate the abdomen, look at posture and the complexion, check the tongue and more during the visit.

“It’s a little more nuanced. During most of medical development, we didn’t have access to bloodwork and MRIs. Ironically, this puts us in the position to have insight into conditions that don’t show up well in modern testing, things like pain,” he said.

“We’re much more able to get to the root of it, especially if they’re not a surgical candidate. Many people don’t understand that this is a medical intervention. These interventions do have an effect.”

Xochil Rivera of Higganum has been seeing Greenberg for a variety of modalities.

“What impressed me most about Aaron is how in tune he is with how the body actually functions. I’ve been to other acupuncturists who mainly ask where the pain is and treat that area, but Aaron takes the time to ask deeper questions to understand the underlying cause,” Rivera said.

“He also gives practical recommendations, things to do and things to avoid, almost like homework, which I really appreciate. If someone is looking to simply relax with needles, his practice might not be the best fit. But if someone wants to truly address the issue using a combination of acupuncture, cupping, massage therapy and a thoughtful approach that gets real results, I’d absolutely recommend seeing Aaron,” she added.

“He definitely has his quirks about him, but I have grown to really appreciate them and how it helps him be the best acupuncturist I have ever been to.” 

Greenberg noted that his work is evidence based.

“There are a lot of misconceptions, even among practitioners. Many fall victim to magical thinking, the idea that if it comes from the mystical East, it must be esoteric and magical,” he said.

“There’s a misunderstanding of chi. That it’s a mystical life force, like a force from ‘Star Wars’ I am very much rooted in terra firma, in evidence, in what is going to best for my patients.”

He often sees patients who have already been to several medical professionals.

“There is hope for a lot of problems that seem hopeless. I am a lot of people’s last stop. People generally come here when they’ve been though the ringer. I affectionately call it the specialist shuffle,” he said.

“Patients who have been through that often come here and find a different lens. They find a satisfactory treatment strategy, whereas previous providers have not been successful,” he added.

Greenberg believes that Western and Eastern medicine both have a role to play.

“I often say the two systems of medicine are really the perfect complements to each other. Western medicine is like Sherlock Holmes, examining down to the smallest parts. It’s great for critical care and infectious disease,” he said.

“However, that model doesn’t do so great when things fall between the lines, when there’s a multisystem problem. In that case, this model is much better suited for that sort of thing. An East Asian model is a much more synthetic mode of thinking. It’s understanding via relationships as opposed to systems in isolation.”

Greenberg and his father are in frequent contact. His father, who still lives in Cromwell, comes in every Thursday to get treatment from his son, followed by brunch.

“We have great conversations about medicine and … are actually able to learn a lot from one another. On the one hand he, of course, has decades of experience on me,” Greenberg said.

“But on the other, I have access to a wealth of translated Chinese source texts that were completely undreamed of when he was in practice. Visiting with dad is the highlight of most weeks for me.” RHL

Learn more at silkroadhealthllc.com.