H1N1; How Traditional Chinese Medicine Can Help

Many People are concerned about catching the H1N1 Virus. Chinese Medicine has several herbal remedies for colds and flu. Plus acupuncture boosts the immune system and relieves unpleasant symptoms like congestion, nausea and body aches.Below is a very helpful and informative post from The Portland Acupuncture Blog by, Amy Chitwood Burslem LAc "I wasn’t planning to write a post about the flu, but

Oscar Winner Sandra Bullock Makes Acupuncture Part of the Set

I love it! Sandra Bullock expects acupuncture to be on her movie set, check it out.From Acupuncture TodayNovember, 2002, Vol. 03, Issue 11Celebrities are renowned for the free gifts, or "perks," they have written into their contracts before going on tour or starting work on a new movie. Actress Sandra Bullock, the star of movies such as "Speed" and "Miss Congeniality," has taken the idea of perks

Acupuncture Use in the United States

I have often joked that it takes 18 months for someone who says they are interested in trying acupuncture to actually go through with it. Unfortunately this is often after an occasional stiffness and twinge in the back has tuned into a chronic and severe pain both limiting mobility and requiring hydrocodone four times a day. The following was published a couple of years ago but I find the data relevant in my practice. I am certainly getting more physician referrals as they hear their patients tell them about success with musculoskeletal pain. Natural seems to be in. With the surge of natural prescription medications like Loveza (omega-3s) and Florastore (probiotic), I am waiting for shan zha and chuan xiong to be marketed by Pfizer!

Acupuncture use in the United States: findings from the National Health Interview Survey.

Burke A, Upchurch DM, Dye C, Chyu L.

Institute for Holistic Healing Studies, San Francisco State University, San Francisco, CA 94132, USA. aburke@sfsu.edu

OBJECTIVE: Acupuncture has become an important provider-based complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) treatment. To improve understanding of its role in personal health care, an analysis of national data was conducted to examine user sociodemographics, conditions treated, and the relationship of use with conventional Western medical care.

DESIGN: A nationally representative cross-sectional survey.

SETTING: The 2002 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), conducted in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

PARTICIPANTS: Thirty-one-thousand and forty-four (31,044) adults who completed the NHIS Sample Adult Core.

OUTCOME MEASURES: The primary outcome measure was recent use of acupuncture, defined as use within the previous 12 months.

RESULTS: In the 2002 NHIS sample, 4.1% of the respondents reported lifetime use, and 1.1% (representing 2.13 million Americans) reported recent use of acupuncture. Recent use (n = 327) was positively associated with being an Asian female, living in the West or Northeast, having poorer self-reported health status, a higher level of education, and being an ex-smoker. Among recent users, the most typical treatment regimen was two to four treatments (34.5%), with musculoskeletal complaints being the most frequently reported conditions, led by back pain (34.0%). Reports of perceived benefit were generally high. Respondents indicated that acupuncture was used both as an alternative and as a complementary therapy. A reasonable number also reported being referred to acupuncture by a conventional medical professional (25.3%). The cross-sectional nature of the data precluded analysis of transitions in health care use (between conventional and CAM treatments) over time.

CONCLUSIONS: Utilization of acupuncture was somewhat lower than expected given its significant national and international recognition and its visibility in the media. This may in part be a function of provider availability and cultural factors.

Acupuncture For Headaches

Another great article from acufinder.comHeadaches are extremely common. While everyone experiences an occasional headache, statistics show that 1 out of 6 people suffer from chronic headaches.Acupuncture can effectively relieve headaches, as well as treat their underlying causes. In fact, headaches are one of the conditions most commonly seen in acupuncture clinics today. It can offer powerful

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Let Your Expectations FALL Away

Fall has returned! In this season, nature lets go of its abundant creation of the past year in a grand final display. Leaves turn brilliant colors and drop back to the earth, enriching it to promote (nourish) the coming growth. In autumn, we can learn more about ourselves because, after a harvest, everything is bare. Autumn marks the end of the growing season, so it becomes a natural turning

Thomas Edison Never Failed...

“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”Thomas EdisonOne of the most famous and hard-working inventors in history.Some of his most used inventions are the light bulb and the gramophone.

Hot Acupuncture News for Your Hot Flash

A multicenter study was recently conducted to assess acupuncture’s effectiveness for menopausal hot flashes. Dr. Einar Kristian Borud led a team of 10 researchers. They conducted a randomized, controlled trial that compared women who received a series of 10 acupuncture treatments in 12 weeks plus advice on self care with a group of women who only received advice on self care.Even with this

Research Shows That Acupuncture Is Effective For Headaches

Headaches often bring people to my Chicago office. Acupuncture is a great alternative to drugs and often works quickly to relieve the pain. The article below is from acufinder.com. It details two studies which showed how effective acupuncture is for relieving the pain and frequency of headaches.Studies Show that Acupuncture Stops HeadachesTwo separate systematic reviews by Cochrane Researchers

Helena Bonham Carter Used Acupuncture For Fertility And It Worked!

I’ve always loved the work of actress Helena Bonham Carter. You may have seen her in Room with a View, Harry potter, Sweeny Todd, Fight Club and others. Well, she has earned my admiration again. At 43, Helena used acupuncture in conjunction with fertility drugs to help her get pregnant and it has worked. She has been spotted out and about with all her glorious curves. This ought to give

Cat Fancy

My Mother , my sister and I are all proud cat owners. We used to be a dog family and while we still love them, we have been slowly converted into a cat dominated family. We have always adopted adorable kittens. This year mom ventured forth and rescued an older cat, and wow, I have never seen her so immediately fall in love. Besides the many photo shoots, the email updates to my sister and I,

Fibromyalgia: Traditional vs Sham Acupuncture Success

In the past year there have been several studies that confirm acupuncture is more effective for back pain than the typical lortab, physical therapy, epidural, and surgery regimen touted by western pain management specialists. The studies included a fake or "sham" acupuncture treatment group along with a real or "traditional" acupuncture treatment group. The problem with these designs was the lack of studies comparing traditional and sham acupuncture. When the results of the studies showed statistically insignificant difference in effectiveness, the conclusions make the reader think all you have to do is stick some needles randomly in your back, not necessarily by a qualified acupuncturist, and the placebo effect will take over from there. The following abstract was pulled from Pub Med and discusses the short and long term effects of traditional acupuncture on pain receptors in the brain for fibromyalgia.

Traditional Chinese acupuncture and placebo (sham) acupuncture are differentiated by their effects on mu-opioid receptors (MORs).

Department of Anesthesiology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA. reharris@med.umich.edu

Controversy remains regarding the mechanisms of acupuncture analgesia. A prevailing theory, largely unproven in humans, is that it involves the activation of endogenous opioid antinociceptive systems and mu-opioid receptors (MORs). This is also a neurotransmitter system that mediates the effects of placebo-induced analgesia. This overlap in potential mechanisms may explain the lack of differentiation between traditional acupuncture and either non-traditional or sham acupuncture in multiple controlled clinical trials. We compared both short- and long-term effects of traditional Chinese acupuncture (TA) versus sham acupuncture (SA) treatment on in vivo MOR binding availability in chronic pain patients diagnosed with fibromyalgia (FM). Patients were randomized to receive either TA or SA treatment over the course of 4 weeks. Positron emission tomography (PET) with (11)C-carfentanil was performed once during the first treatment session and then repeated a month later following the eighth treatment. Acupuncture therapy evoked short-term increases in MOR binding potential, in multiple pain and sensory processing regions including the cingulate (dorsal and subgenual), insula, caudate, thalamus, and amygdala. Acupuncture therapy also evoked long-term increases in MOR binding potential in some of the same structures including the cingulate (dorsal and perigenual), caudate, and amygdala. These short- and long-term effects were absent in the sham group where small reductions were observed, an effect more consistent with previous placebo PET studies. Long-term increases in MOR BP following TA were also associated with greater reductions in clinical pain. These findings suggest that divergent MOR processes may mediate clinically relevant analgesic effects for acupuncture and sham acupuncture.

Acupuncturist Provides Relief To Injured Marines

Since I’ve been in this field, I’ve seen acupuncture become more and more mainstream and now even the military recognizes its benefits. The Star News Online recently reported that Karen Vaughn a Wilmington, Delaware, acupuncturist, volunteers her Fridays at Camp Lejeune performing free acupuncture procedures to help Marines injured in combat deal with their pain and stress. Check out the

Acupuncture Is For The Dogs

Phoenix Metro News recently ran a cute story about a German Shepard named Margo receiving acupuncture treatments from her vet. The story went on to say that the needles will not cure the cancer in the dog’s leg, but does help with the pain and keeps her calm. Check out Margo's story below.Popular Stress Relief Treatment Going To The DogsReported by: Corey Rangel Email: crangel@

I'm On Vacation !

Happy Labor Day Everyone !I will be on Vacation this weekend (yea!) but will be back to posting regularly after the holiday.

Athletics, Acupuncture and Philosophy

I just read about my acupuncture soulmate. Haro Ogawa, MSOM, LAc, CMT, ATC, acupuncturist for the SF Giants, national basketball teams, and NASCAR drivers was interviewed by Acupuncture today and he shared some of his background and philosophy"My treatments are basically the same for every sport because meridian therapy is a balance treatment. It increases the human immune system and also