Acupuncture Used for Treatment of Uterine Fibroids in Cuba

From Ahora.cuBy Redaction Ahoraemail: redaccion@ahora.cuApril 2009 The use of natural medicine, particularly acupuncture, has broadened the treatment prospects for uterine fibroids, which affect one every three women in Cuba. As an initiative of Pinar del Rio's gynecologist Ana Rodriguez Núñez, the therapeutic alternative is implemented on a regular basis at the Comandante

More People are Pursuing Acupuncture for Back pain

This is from a segment that appeared on the CBS Early show4/8/09Dr. Jennifer Ashton spoke with Harry Smith about the most effective methods to treat and prevent back pain.Early Show medical correspondent Dr. Jennifer Ashton tells co-anchor Harry Smith that the survey confirms what she sees in her everyday medical practice, that back pain is "the most common ailment in this country," and that it

Einstein Couldn't Figure Out Income Tax

“The hardest thing in the world to understand is the income tax.”Albert Einstein (1879 – 1955)U.S. Winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics

Chinese Medicine a Healthy Alternative for Kids

This article is From Healthy.net Even healthy children are extremely vulnerable to common viruses, allergies and illnesses. Antibiotics are used more and more frequently for childhood ailments, but one problem with this is the possibility of overuse. Bacteria can become resistant to antibiotics when this form of medicine is over-diagnosed or becomes too common. Western and traditional

Doctoral Degree

I am already in a quandary about the recent edict that came down from the AACN stating that they were adopting the clinical doctorate as an entry to advanced practice nursing. I swallowed it am and planning on getting it since the idea of being grandfathered in makes me only slightly more nauseous than the idea of yet another several thousand dollars I will spend on superfluous higher education. And I keep telling myself that professional parity in a hospital setting is important and it will likely lead to more practice autonomy on a national level.

I have maintained for quite a while that the DAOM is even more ridiculous when you consider we have yet to adopt the same licensing standards as other allied health professions, most practitioners are in private practice so there is no employment or parity advantage, and the federal government won't grant loans for this experience of paying a lot of money to an institution so you can write papers and have supervised clinical hours outside of your own practice.  It is more important to have the master's level education in acupuncture and Oriental Medicine standardized with a single, nationally recognized designation.  I have been on about this in several previous posts, so I will leave it at that. But I would add that as of yet, there is no advantage to a DAOM other than bragging rights to call yourself a "doctor" and still have people say, "now what do all those initials after your name mean?" 

More power to the practitioners who have achieved the DAOM, it is just not for me as it stands right now. I investigated several programs for myself and saw very little difference between the offered educational experience and intense self-study along with finding a mentor in the specialty area of interest. 

But this is for news, not my own opinion.  Funny that this comes from the community acupuncture network, a practice style I have said my peace about before.

Community Acupuncture Network Votes "No" on New Doctorate Degree for Acupuncture

by Larry Gatti 
Sunday Jan 11th, 2009 8:16 AM

The board of directors for the Community Acupuncture Network (CAN) has voted unanimously to oppose a new doctorate degree for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine on the grounds that such a move would be detrimental to practitioners, patients and the profession. Due to its large membership, the vote represents a significant hurdle for professional consensus for the ACAOM to renew its review and finalization of standards for a first-professional doctorate in acupuncture and in Oriental medicine.

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Unconventional Medicine

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - About four in 10 U.S. adults and one in nine children are turning to unconventional medical approaches for chronic pain and other health problems, health officials said on Wednesday.

Back pain was the leading reason that Americans reported using complementary and alternative medicine techniques, followed by neck and joint pain as well as arthritis, according to the survey by the National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

About 38 percent of adults used some form of complementary and alternative medicine in 2007, compared to 36 percent in 2002, the last time the government tracked at the matter.

For the first time, the survey looked at use of such medicine by children under age 18, finding that about 12 percent used it, officials said. The reasons included back pain, colds, anxiety, stress and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, according to the survey.

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Live! from the AAAOM Conference

As we wrap up this 5 day seminars, I wanted to share some thoughts of the highlights and low-lights of the conference.

Pre-conference:

Classical 5-Element Acupuncture with Judy Worsley

I was excited for this seminar.  I use some of the principle in treatment, but was looking for a deeper understanding of the diagnosis and treatment applications, and who better than to learn from.  To the devotees of 5-Element, Judy is a living first degree relic of their messiah. This was also her first conference and she admitted to reluctance and lack of tech-savvy which should have given the organizers pause.  This could have been a bang-up seminar and for the 5E folks, it probably was, but I left with the same knowledge I came in with.  Well, I did learn a lot about her personal life as lover, wife, and widow of her mentor JR Worsley and about general farming practices in the English countryside.  I was hoping for something along the lines of practical application of theory I had in school, but what I got was a half an hour of education and 7.5 hours of anecdotes and on-going audience questions and testimonials that kept the lecture from getting anywhere.  I now understand why it take 4 years to graduate from a 5E acupuncture program - they just keep feeling (without trying to feel) and never get to the point.  

Ethics with Michael Taromina and Betsy Smith

Ohh there is nothing like hearing horror stories from other well-intended practitioners to make you feel maybe flipping burgers would have been a safer career choice!  In all seriousness, Michael was a passionate, knowledgeable speaker and gave a great presentation on the updated code of ethics, risk-management strategies, and overview of the disciplinary process and how to avoid it.  We all need ethics CEU hours and I would say this was the most engaging and useful one I have ever attended. 

Day One

General Session with AAAOM board and special guest Josephine Briggs

As with most of these, there is a lot of introductions, thank yous, and audience commentary.  The bulk of the session discussed herbal initiatives and the state of research, opinions, and use of CAM in the US.  All very informative, however I still think we should focus our attention on uniform national accreditation title with state licensure, as with nurses, physicians, and PT models, but I have ranted on that score so often I am getting sick of the sound of my own keystrokes.

Every Little Bit Counts: Low Back Pain with Matt Bauer

Matt gave an excellent non-cookbook formula for the treatment of back pain.  Not only did he provide great treatment protocols, he also gave us a quick way to calculate the odds of treatment success.  Despite sounding a bit systematic, he is an intuitive practitioner and is more concerned with feeling the flow of energy than hitting a textbook point.  After his workshop, I learned I need to hunker down more with Medical Qi Gong - I think I am finally old enough to handle it. 

Day Two

Insurance Billing with Sam Collins

Wow.  This was the most useful lecture of the conference and I think my practice is going to move in a new direction in the coming months. One thing I adored about his presentation style was his ability to curtail extended questions and commentary - every minute of the presentation was packed with information and he was able to keep from being de-railed.  He also stayed 45-minutes after class to answer individual questions.  I plan on attending one of his seminars in the future and may even sign-up for the consulting service.  I had been investigating adding insurance to my list of services and this makes the process look at lot less daunting. (My frined who went to the Medications to Worry About seminar reported having a lot of good knowledge - I took a miss on it because my FNP Pharmacology class had me Cytochrome P-450'd out!)

Pain & Electroacupuncture with Lixing Lao

I was torn about taking this one as there was an Healing Upper Jiao seminar at the same time, but since my friend went to it (and loved it), I figured I could use the refresher.  There was a lot of review of literature which of course, appeals to my nursing sensibilities.  He provided clear rational for why we set frequencies at certain levels depending on the condition, distal and proximal point use, and electrode placement.  This was quite low-key and an excellent refresher to reinforce knowledge and competence.

Banquet Dinner with guest speaker Serman Chon

Good dinner, but expensive ($75!) if you did not get it as part of the 4-day seminar package. The speaker talked on the history and development of acupuncture education and law in the US and has done research in this area including personal interviews with many of the pioneers.  I suppose this was supposed to be inspiring, but basically what I got out of it is the entire basis for the educational programs of acupuncture schools in this country originated from 4 hippies in a bathroom.  We also could have had a clinical doctorate as an entry to practice almost from the get-go and it was our own who basically sabotaged it because they did not want to be "like western medicine."  I cold go on about this, but I am going to keep my foot stomping, eye-rolling, and sighing to a minimum - just know I am doing it.

Day Three:

Qi Gong with Jeff Nagal

Awesome way to get the day started - he explained theory in just the right amount and gave a great, balanced practice.  I would love to do a seminar with him, especially in light of the high reviews he received from the Upper Jiao seminar.

Scalp Acupuncture with  Xioatian Shen

This started late due to schedule misprint, but he managed to pack in a lot of great new information in a short periods of time.  Excellent case histories were presented and he was an engaging speaker.  I admit I have a personal prejudice that favors native Chinese educators since that is who I learned from.  There are defiantly some new strategies I will take home with me especially in the area of headaches.

Treating Allergies with Rong Shen Lin

Living in the Ohio valley, allergies are a year-long problem for many people.  It was only natural to sign-on for this  - review to come.