Excerpt 'Since the warmth of summer has been fading into shorter days, I have had a influx in patients seeking relief from depression. This isn’t uncommon—each year I see it with the season change. In acupuncture, there are five major organ systems, each of which is connected to an emotion and season. During that season, the corresponding organ is most vulnerable and the emotion tends to show up more. Fall is Lung season and the emotion associated is grief. From an acupuncture perspective, it makes perfect sense that there is a heightened melancholy this time of year." read more
Westen Doctor Trades Pills For Acupuncture Needles, Acutakehealth.com →
Meet A Western Doctor Who Traded Pills For Acupuncture Needles
Excerpt "Leslie Smith, MD, is a Western-trained physician who prefers acupuncture needles to scalpels and herbs to pharmaceuticals. At her practice in Chicago, she rarely prescribes medications, relying instead on modalities from Asian medicine and nutritional counseling. She teaches courses on acupunctur, and on alternative medicine, to medical students at the University of Illinois ." read more
Acupuncture Relieves Sciatica, Reduces Inflammation, Healthcare Medicine Institute →
Acupuncture relieves Sciatica, Reduces Inflammation
Excerpt "Acupuncture and herbs relieve sciatica, a condition characterized by lower back pain radiating thro ugh the hips, buttocks, and legs. Researchers from the Rizhao Hospital and the Shanghai University investigated the efficectiveness of acupuncture for the relief of sciatica. Both acupuncture and acupuncture plus herbal medicine were effective and produced significant positive patient outcomes. Researchers document that acupuncture and herbs stimulate important biochemical changes causing pain reduction." read more
To Curb Pain Without Opioids, Oregon Looks To Alternative Treatments, National Public Radio →
To Curb Pain Without Opioids, Oregon Looks To Alternative Treatments
Excerpt: "There should be an array of things for people to choose from," Eisen says, "whether it be chiropractic care, or naturopathic care, or acupuncture, nutrition, massage. Try those things — and if they don't work, you use opioids as a last resort." ...Oregon wants more patients to try this approach. Denise Taray, coordinator of the Oregon Pain Management Commission, says Medicaid's traditional way of dealing with back pain involved bed rest and prescription painkillers.
Excerpt "The only thing that might have been covered in the past was narcotics," Taray says. "But treatments such as acupuncture, chiropractic, massage therapy, physical therapy and rehab would never have been covered."... Starting in January 2016, the state will fund many of these alternative treatments for patients who get their health care via Oregon's version of Medicaid. While treatments may cost more than pain pills, the hope is to save money by reducing the number of people who become addicted to opioids or abuse them." read more
Bad Medicine, Part 3, Death By Diagnosis, National Public Radio, Freakonomics Radio Podcast →
Bad Medicine, Part 3, Death By Diagnosis
Excerpt "I think the number-one problem is we don’t measure performance. We don’t measure the outcomes of patients in health care for 99 percent of the health care that’s delivered. Ninety-nine percent of people that have surgery in the United States go home and no one documents or keeps track at a systematic level — that is, national or regional, or hospital — how the patient does. At six months, are you glad that you had your knee surgery done? At six months after hip surgery, are you walking again? Or a year after weight-loss surgery, what is your weight today? We don’t keep track of those things for most of the procedures that we do. How can you really come up with a quality metric if nobody’s tracking it?"
Dr Marty Makary, Surgeon and Professor Healthcare Policy read more
Acupuncture And Sports Medicine, AcuTakeHealth.com →
How the Iron Cowboy Used Acupuncture to Fuel 50 Ironman Triathlons in 50 Days in 50 States
Excerpt "Go ahead and read that headline again. 50 Ironman triathlons in 50 days in 50 states. There are no typos there. James Lawrence, who goes by the nickname Iron Cowboy, actually did that last summer. And he used acupuncture to help fuel his journey." read more
Acupuncture and Athletes, AcuTakeHealth.com →
"Why All Athletes Should Use Acupuncture"
Excerpt "NFL quarterback Matt Hasselbeck does it. So does hockey superstar Jaromir Jagr. Olympic high-jumper Amy Acuff likes it so much that she learned how to practice it herself. New York City Ballet dancers swear by it. ..... Acupuncture is an effectivetreatment for sports injuries because it resolves pain, accelerates healing and increases range of motion. Acupuncture achieves this by decreasing inflammation, swelling and bruising; relaxing muscles and relieving spasms; lowering the body’s pain response and improving circulation." read more