By 2014, Section 3502 of President Obama's health care reform could mandate the Bureau of Health Statistics to formally recognize acupuncture as a profession, opening the door to Medicare coverage for acupuncture, serving our growing elderly population, as well as providing it as an option for millions of low- and middle-income Americans in need of care.
Although acupuncture is still relatively "new" to the United States, its integration has been a long time coming. Thousands of years ago, Chinese ancients spent whole lifetimes observing nature, discovered the secrets of healing naturally, and passed down this beautiful medicine generation to generation.
A hundred years ago, in 1912, William Osler, the so-called father of American medicine, described putting a "body needle" at the base of his patient's spine to treat lumbago (low back pain). Six decades later, in 1975, California became one of the first states to legalize the practice of acupuncture by licensed professionals. The FDA got on board in 1996, and two years later, the National Institute of Health approved acupuncture as a medicine.
As a Chinese medicine practitioner with a busy clinic in the center of NYC, I witness a lot less apprehension from new patients as they enter my clinic these days. Pillars of the financial, arts, sports, legal and most interestingly the Western medical world, at first tentative, now confidently enter the waiting rooms of acupuncturists across the country searching for relief from chronic and acute conditions that have somehow fallen between the cracks of the Western steroidal, pharmaceutical, and physical therapy solution.
Brought on by a modern-day lifestyle that includes the overconsumption of grains and sugar, lack of sleep, and a sedentary lifestyle, these complex medical issues are being addressed by Eastern medicine's whole-body approach, which before any acupuncture occurs, emphasizes the rebalancing of diet and lifestyle.
Chinese medicine is gradually making its way into the mainstream consciousness. We have become a first choice rather than a last resort these days, as results from study after study surface within the media, confirming acupuncture as an effective option for not only pain, but many other health issues. Increasingly, the public -- tired of ineffective Western treatment options and the pervasive overuse of pharmaceuticals -- are looking to the more natural approach that Chinese medicine offers.
It has taken the American public a while to come around, but we are discovering that acupuncture and associated Chinese medicine therapies, typically credited with relieving musculoskeletal pain, go far beyond just pain. The World Health Organization credits acupuncture with treating the following conditions (among others), all with minimal side effects:
• Relieving postoperative pain
• Nausea during pregnancy
• Nausea and vomiting resulting from chemotherapy
• Dental pain
• Allergic Rhinitis
• Essential Hypertension
• Stroke
• Acute and Chronic Gastritis
• Anxiety
• Panic disorders
• Insomnia
• Addiction
• Depression
The Information Age has catapulted this exquisitely-elegant medicine into the spotlight, under the microscope and on the radar of an estimated 8.2 million Americans. And as Chinese medicine integrates with mainstream choices, more and more Western doctors have opened their minds and clinics to the possibilities that exist, partnering with acupuncturists and referring appropriate cases to Chinese medicine clinics for treatment.
We have had and continue to have our detractors, to be sure. For several years now, I've treated postoperative patients with acupuncture in a New York City hospital. Initially, I received a lukewarm reception from staff, doctors and patients alike. Doctors wanted hard data via evidence-based clinical studies, and a clear treatment plan. The patients wanted to know how treatment would benefit their recovery.
As everyone watched patients' pain diminish, and their medication needs drop precipitously, the staff's comfort level increased, and my shifts in the hospital got busier and busier. Hospital staff referrals now comprise a good percentage of my patient population.
This is how it should be. Both medicines have their purpose, and can exist in partnership with each other. Egos aside, this is what's best for the patient, and at the end of the day, that's what we all want, isn't it?
It's easy to envision acupuncture becoming a part of every hospital's protocol in the near future. It is cost-effective, can provide a safe, side effect-free method of recovery from pain after surgery, lessens postoperative nausea, constipation, and urinary difficulties, and can manage existing conditions like hypertension, anxiety and insomnia. These discoveries are becoming survival for the hospital of the future as the country wrestles with ever-changing economic challenges and hospitals struggle to stay solvent and viable.
I'm happy Western and Eastern doctors are finally having a conversation about the future of health care. Our relationships strengthened by working together, we now discuss this nearly every week, when they come in for their appointments.
For more by Phil Veneziano, M.S. L.Ac., click here.
For more on natural health, click here.
Regarding the hospitals starting to accept acupuncture I think you are going to see a lot more acceptance of alternative/advanced medicine. Why? Because of efficacy and lack of efficacy in the pharmaceutical approach to medicine. And the health insurance companies have been incentivized to keep us healthy and that means a lot more advanced medicine.
Here's the link.
http://www.burzynskimovie.com/
Prescription Drugs Injure, Kill 2-4 Million Annually
http://www.omsj.org/corruption/prescription-drugs-injure-kill-2-4-million-annually
And, really, OMSJ? AIDS denialists? Go away.
What exactly is this supposed to mean? There *isn't any* federal "Bureau of Health Statistics." Is it supposed to be the NCVHS? They're mentioned four times in a 906-page law and don't "formally recognize" anything. I assume the meat is Section 3502(b)(4), which addresses eligibility for grants and contracts and includes the phrase "such team *may* include ... licensed complementary and alternative medicine practictioners..." (emphasis added). Where is the nonexistent entity that wouldn't be involved in any such task in the first place being "mandated" to "recognize" anything?
http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/index.php/foolishness-or-fraud-bogus-science-at-nccam/#more-7155
The keyboard skeptics main goal is to discredit and spin. Here are some tools you might find useful.
1. Never get into an argument over science with a keyboard skeptic they make things up as they go along and consume an enormous amount of your time. It's best not to engage with them.
2. Put them on the defensive by constantly attacking the reasons they are posting. After all they have anointed themselves judge, jury and executioner of anything that isn't "con med".
3. Don't back down ever; most good doctors appreciate us shining a light on them.
4. Turn the debate around to benefit society. They are trying desperately to dominate the debate on healthcare but there is no debate, our system is broken and needs to be fixed and you are doing society a favor by pointing out the waste, fraud and abuse in the status quo.
It's odd that you blithely and baselessly assert that other people work for "phrama" and then immediately claim that some conspiratorial "we" of which you are a part has come up with "rules" for others to obey, Sharon.
As an acupuncture school, we are dedicated to advancing healthcare by bridging the gap between Eastern & Western medicine. In our teaching clinic on campus, we've seen stroke survivors making great progress in their recovery when combining physical therapy with stroke acupuncture treatments.
We're confident that it's just a matter of time until acupuncture will be an integral part in any hospital.
One would hope that you're preparing to submit them for peer review, because in the nine years between the systematic review in the Journal of Neurology (PMID 11517996) and the 2010 one in CMAJ (PMID 20876268), the conclusion of there being no evidence for the efficacy of acupuncture in stroke rehabilitation hasn't changed.
Are you here to do your pseudo-skeptic spinning again against anything alternative.
Of course, one has the problem that "Chinese medicine" (a vaguely insulting term, as though the Chinese are somehow cartoonishly mired in a vitalistic past) isn't all that popular in the mysterious Orient in the first place (e.g., PMIDs 19917139, 17319950, 18691428), with herbalism soundly trouncing acupuncture.
Uh-huh. How did the "Chinese ancients" fashion steel needles? Why do their tools appear to be the usual lancets associated with bloodletting? Why were the "meridians" casually moved away from veins when acupuncture was reinvigorated (the first time, not the Maoist one) in the early 20th century? Why is sham acupuncture apparently even better than the real thing? Why is the lede excitement over the potential of federally subsidized marks for this game?
Nope. Neither the Streitberger nor the Park sham needle penetrates the skin.
"If you don't follow the entire course of antibiotics, the effects don't last and the infection comes back."
This is apropos of nothing.
"Initially sharp fish bones and stones were used as needles."
Do these look like fish bones to you? http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4153/4989983488_46abaa5ffe.jpg
"Please cite when the meridians were casually moved away from veins."
In the 1930s, when Cheng Dan'an got hip to the Western study of nervous system function.
"The definition of an acupuncture point is that it has lower electrical resistance in the body."
This doesn't mean anything. And I don't mean "has no significance," I mean "has no semantic content."
"Please answer me why the studies conducted of acupuncture vs. SSRIs that the acupuncture tends to be more effective."
Perhaps you'd like to provide them first. It is well known that serotonergic antidepressants aren't much more effective than placebo for mild depression.