Chad Houfek, L.Ac.

About Chad Houfek, L.Ac.

Chad Houfek is a Licensed Acupuncturist in South Carolina and a nationally board-certified Diplomat of Chinese Herbal Medicine through the NCCAOM. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Comparative Religious Studies from the College of Charleston and earned his Master of Science in Acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine in 2009 from Southwest Acupuncture College in Boulder, Colorado, one of the most respected acupuncture programs in the country.

That same year, Chad founded Charleston Community Acupuncture with a straightforward mission: to make high-quality acupuncture genuinely accessible to the people of Charleston. Fifteen years later, that mission has translated into over 10,000 patients treated and a clinic voted Charleston’s Best Acupuncture by City Paper readers eight times.

Chad has never stopped learning. He has pursued advanced training with some of the most respected names in the field, including sports acupuncture pioneer Whitfield Reaves, orthopedic specialist Jeremy Steiner, and the EXSTORE Orthopedic System. Developed by Dr. Anthony Lombardi, EXSTORE is a comprehensive clinical framework for assessing and treating musculoskeletal and orthopedic conditions using motor points, electro-acupuncture, and soft tissue techniques. Chad has also studied directly with Dr. Wei-Chieh Young, a lineage holder and direct student of Master Tung. Master Tung’s acupuncture is a distinct and powerful classical system known for its remarkable speed and effectiveness, often producing results in conditions that have not responded to other forms of treatment.

His undergraduate background in Comparative Religious Studies is not as far from acupuncture as it might seem. It gave him an early fluency in the philosophical frameworks that underpin Chinese medicine, including the relationship between mind, body, and spirit that Western medicine is only beginning to quantify. That foundation shapes the way Chad approaches every patient.

Clinically, Chad specializes in orthopedics, chronic pain, sports injuries, and stress-related disorders. He is equally comfortable working with a construction worker managing a decade of back pain and a weekend athlete recovering from a shoulder injury. His higher-volume practice means he has accumulated a depth of clinical experience that simply cannot be shortcut, and his patients feel the difference.

What drives him is transformation. Using acupuncture and herbal medicine to shift someone from suffering to health, from stuck to moving, is work he finds genuinely meaningful fifteen years in.

When Chad is not in the clinic, you will find him at the beach, in the garden, playing guitar, or exploring the world alongside his wife, two children, and two rescue dogs.

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