How to tell if you're happy...

My sister and I

You Have A Sister ! 

"People with at least one female sibling report better social support, more optimism, and better coping abilities, according to a study presented at the British Psychological Society’s annual conference. Sisters appear to encourage communication and cohesion in families."

Love it ! This morning, my sister forwarded me this article ~ 9 Signs you're

The Challenge Is To Change Ourselves

"When we are no longer able to change a situation - we are challenged to change ourselves."
 Viktor E. Frankl

Back Pain Study

Brian Berman and colleagues of the University of Maryland School of Medicine published findings of a review of acupuncture for back pain in the July issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

From Psychology Today
 + Most people (70%) have experienced serious lower back pain; indeed, lower back pain is one of the most common reasons for visits to a physician. Low-back pain can be disabling, but usually the pain responds to treatment. Unfortunately some people (7%) develop chronic low back pain that cannot be resolved with drugs or physical therapy. Many of these people turn to alternative therapies, including acupuncture, for relief.

+ A study of 6359 patients suffering chronic lower back pain compared the results of providing these patients with acupuncture, no treatment, or treating them with mock acupuncture. The results showed that both the patients receiving real acupuncture and the ones receiving mock acupuncture experienced significant pain relief compared to people who received no treatment.

Chinese Medicine Is Not Just For Grown Ups

Children can benefit from both acupuncture and herbs. If your child is afraid of the needles there are other ways to stimulate points and the herbal remedies can be a healthy option. Last year a good friend of mine did a guest post on herbal alternatives for children. and just recently I published a post about Rush Medical Center, here in Chicago, which is offering acupuncture to their pediatric

New Study Shows Acupuncture Maybe A Potent Treatment For Depression

Many of the studies about acupuncture’s effectiveness come from Western medicine researchers trying to understand Traditional Chinese Medicine (an Eastern philosophy and practice) in terms of Western science.

Here is another one, and this one has implications for the treatment of depression. In this study, conducted at the University of New South Wales, healthy patients underwent MRI brain scans

Thanks for Making Us a Top Blog!

Wow - Acupuncture News was just voted brilliant! Here is part of the e-mail I received with links to other genius blogs like this one

Congratulations! Acupuncture News, was determined to be one of the best blogs to exude overall brilliance. And so, it has received our 2010 Top 40 Acupuncture Blogs award presented by Medical Billing and Coding!

You can see your name amongst our winners here at:
www.medicalbillingandcoding.org/top_acupuncture/#Acupuncture_News

Winners were chosen through a scoring system that included internet nominations, which came from your reader base!

And yes, I realize this is largely to get people to click on the link to the medical billing and coding site. Crafty, isn't it?!

Cupping Is A Popular Trend In Hollywood

Cupping fans continue to pop up all over Hollywood. Gwyneth Paltrow , Victoria Beckham and now Denise Richards have all shown off their tell tale marks. Last month the U.K. paper The Daily Mail published photos of Denise in Malibu, wearing a strapless maxi dress and cupping marks on her back. She gave the camera a big smile and I'm sure that is because she felt so refreshed after undergoing the

Cinnamon Spice and Everything Nice......

Cinnamon, Gui Zhi, is one of the oldest spices around and it is mentioned frequently in the Bible as an ingredient for making holy anointed oil. even earlier, cinnamon received much attention in China. It is mentioned in one of the earliest books (approximately 2,700 B.C.) about Chinese botanical medicine.

Today, the cinnamon twig is one of the most important circulatory herbs in Chinese

"Water With No Ice, Please"

For years, I have recommended drinking plenty of water - but "no ice".  I always do this, strongly advise my patients to do the same and have successfully converted my family. Whenever we are eating out, we all look up at the waiter and ask, "Water With No Ice, Please."  I'm surprised that many people are still unaware of the benefits so, when I came across this article published on the

A Fabulous Fungus ~ Cordyceps

Last month I wrote about a heist in Vancouver, Canada of a Chinese Herbal store. One of the expensive items stolen was the well known Chinese cure all cordyceps. Many of you may ask what is so special about this fungus ? Well here is Cathy with an answer for you.
From pacherbsBy Cathy Margolin L.A.c.

Shopping at a farmers market is always a favorite activity of mine, checking out the best

“Old age ain’t for sissies.” - Bette Davis 

Ancient Chinese Medicine May Help Chemotherapy Patients

Yale University and a company called PhytoCeutica, Inc.,  recently published a study that has great potential for people who are undergoing chemotherapy. The researcher made a drug from boiling peony root, licorice root, red dates and skullcap root, all Traditional Chinese Medicine remedies that help the gastro-intestinal tract, especially when you are suffering from diarrhea, nausea and vomiting

Therapy For Adults With ADHD

My Mother loves blogging ! Here is a post from her blog, Life Ain't For Sissies, I thought my readers would find interesting and helpful. Enjoy !

For many children diagnosed with ADHD, the symptoms persist well into adulthood. When adults learn that these lifelong symptoms have a name, they are often greatly relieved. They have been thinking about themselves as lazy or disorganized instead

New Research~Acupuncture Is Effective For Turning Breech Babies

This article from Healthcmi, gives a informative and quick overview of recent research which shows that acupuncture and moxabustion can be effective tools in turning breach babies. While these studies are new, Chinese Medicine has been used to help turn breach babies for hundreds of years.

"New research shows that acupuncture is an effective method for turning breech fetuses to the proper

Tennis Star Uses Acupuncture For Hip Pain

Another Star Athlete Uses Acupuncture To recover from an injury ! On 8/27/10 the Associated Press reported that Kim Clijsters ,the former No. 1 ranked player, used acupuncture to help her hip which had been giving her problems on the court. The Belgian tennis player had an amazing winning streak at the U.S. Open and is currently ranked No. 3 in the world. She is now moving better, which helps

The Military Is Using Acupuncture As An Alternative To Painkillers

Stars and Stripes published an article last month about the Military using acupuncture as an alternative to prescription painkillers. The military seems to have an increasing interest in the many benefits of acupuncture and I hope it continues.

Read the following by

Rush University Medical Center in Chicago Offers Young Patients Acupuncture

This year ScienceDaily reported that Rush Medical Center, here in Chicago, is offering acupuncture to their pediatric patients with chronic illnesses. These treatments are part of a study to find out how acupuncture might help reduce pain in children and increase their quality of life. The acupuncture is used to relieve pain, nausea and fatigue. Here are a couple of excerpts from the article."

The Web That Has No Weaver

For those of you who are looking for a good place to start learning about TCM, this is a great book to read.

The Web That Has No Weaver: Understanding Chinese Medicine

"Completely and thoroughly revised, The Web That Has No Weaver is the classic, comprehensive guide on the theory and practice of Chinese medicine. This accessible and invaluable resource has earned its place as the foremost

Enjoy Labor Day !

"Labor to keep alive in your breast that little spark of celestial fire, called conscience." ~ George Washington"I'm a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it." ~ Thomas Jefferson"No labor, however humble, is dishonoring." ~ The Talmud