news.yahoo.com

This is a pretty fair treatment of the issue of “natural medicine” versus prescribed allopathic medicine. At least the pros and cons are getting publicity in news media.

www.thenassauguardian.com

alternativemedicinedaily.blogspot.com

“The bear lies on its stomach in a coffin-like metal cage so small that it cannot move. It cannot sit up, turn over or scratch itself, let alone stand. Protruding from its stomach is a catheter that has been crudely inserted into its gall bladder, which is "milked" for its bile, used in traditional Chinese medicine despite the ready availability of cheap herbal and synthetic alternatives.

The bear is an Asiatic Black Bear, or Moon Bear, named for the yellow crescent of fur on its chest. It is endangered, and there are only an estimated 16,000 to 25,000 left in the wild.”

www.int.iol.co.za

A Voice of America’s article on the many pros and some cons regarding Chinese herbal medicine and acupuncture. Take a look at what people all over the world are reading about these topics.

www.voanews.com

State Legislative Activities

CSA Event Report

www.aaaomonline.org/?pagenumber=13

I look forward to working with the general membership to help our association grow and to help the individual states grow. Let me know if there is anything I can do for you!

Phranque Wright – DAOM, LAc
Membership Committee Chair

Ohio Legislative Update

Ohio is moving closer into alignment with national legislative trends for the practice of acupuncture with the passage of SB 245. Senator Kirk Schuring introduced SB 245 on behalf of the Ohio Association of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (OAAOM) in November 2007. The bill passed in the Senate with a 30-1 vote and in the House of Representatives with a vote of 97-0 on May 13. The bill is ready for Governor Ted Strickland to sign. Ohio’s conservative nature is reflected in the current acupuncture practice law that requires acupuncturists to have a referral from a physician or chiropractor prior to treating a patient. Subsequent to the referral, the physician or chiropractor is required to supervise the treatments. SB 245 will lift the referral and supervision requirement for practitioners who have practiced for at least 12 months without disciplinary action from the Ohio State Medical Board.

Lessons Learned

OAAOM entered the legislative fray when chiropractors began legislative efforts to practice acupuncture in Ohio. Although OAAOM was unable to stop the legislation, OAAOM was able to increase the hours of training and improve course content for chiropractors practicing acupuncture in Ohio. OAAOM used that experience and our new ties to legislators to move forward with legislation to improve the practice of acupuncture in Ohio for acupuncturists. OAAOM renewed a relationship with Senator Kirk Schuring, who sponsored the legislation that gave acupuncturists the right to practice in Ohio in 2000.

While working on the chiropractor legislation, OAAOM continued to hear common themes from legislators--do your homework, propose small steps, maintain professionalism at all times. Our first goal was to meet with other interested parties to find the level of comfort the medical associations and the medical board had with an improved practice law. Next, we began to study the steps other states had taken to improve their practice laws by reading practice laws from those states. We drafted our ideas with Senator Schuring and our lobbyist, Terrence O’Donnell of Bricker & Eckler. To build the highest level of professionalism in the eyes of the legislators, we asked Betsy Smith from NCCAOM to testify in subcommittee hearings to bolster the legislators’ understanding of the rigorous national training and testing standards for acupuncturists.

SB 245 had no opposition in subcommittee hearings and passed in the Senate and House within six months with unanimous positive votes in subcommittee hearings. OAAOM listened to the legislators and the outcome is promising for acupuncturists in Ohio.

The Long Road Ahead

SB 245 will greatly enhance the practice of acupuncture in Ohio, but Ohio acupuncturists are still unable to practice the full scope of Oriental Medicine. The Ohio State Medical Board has clearly stated that the practice of herbs is not part of the scope of practice for acupuncturists in Ohio. OAAOM felt that adding the practice of herbs to SB 245 would have jeopardized the ability to lift the referral and supervision requirement. OAAOM knows that future legislative efforts will be necessary to continue to bring Ohio into true alignment with the full scope of Oriental Medicine. SB 245 offers an opportunity for the expansion of the practice of acupuncture in Ohio. We have completed one step on our journey and continue to look forward to the future of Oriental Medicine in Ohio.

Carrie Craddock, Registered Acupuncturist, OAAOM Legislative Chair

National AOM Issues

Qi-Unity Report Interviews Rick Kitaeff

Kitaeff’s early efforts to study in Japan demonstrate how difficult it was to pursue education as a foreigner at that time. His contemporary work continues to advance the medicine into impressive achievements, particularly with stroke victims.

QUR: Please introduce yourself briefly as to what you do and where you currently work.

RK: I am a naturopathic physician and acupuncturist with 35 years of experience in the natural medicine field. I have owned and directed New Health Medical Center in Edmonds, Washington for the past 27 years. It is a multi-disciplinary natural medicine center with about 10 different practitioners working in the areas of acupuncture and Chinese medicine, naturopathic medicine, allopathic physical medicine, physical therapy, massage and hydrotherapy, colonic irrigation therapy, and counseling therapy. I was also appointed to the staff of Northwest Hospital about 10 years ago as the only acupuncturist or naturopathic physician on a hospital staff in this region. I am an affiliate clinical faculty member of Bastyr University, providing preceptorship training to acupuncture and naturopathic students.

QUR: You were one of the first foreign students who studied acupuncture in Japan. Could you elaborate on how you found your way to Meiji University and your experiences helping Dr. Motoyama conduct research?

RK: When I arrived in Japan in 1971, I had never heard of acupuncture or Oriental medicine, but had a pre-medical undergraduate training from McGill University and had rejected the opportunity that was offered to me to enter the medical school there. I became interested in acupuncture through assisting in some research conducted by Dr. Hiroshi Motoyama at the Institute for Religious Psychology in Tokyo. Dr. Motoyama was a Shinto priest and physiological psychologist, who was using laboratory tools to measure the psychological and physiological parameters of paranormal experiences in Indian yogis, Zen priests, Philippine psychic healers, Catholic healers and other spiritual masters. He considered the system of acupuncture points and meridians, like the Ayurvedic marma and nadis, to form a subtle anatomy that could mediate between mind and body. Interested in learning more about this system of medicine previously unknown to me, I sought admission to colleges of Oriental medicine in the Osaka area. The first three I applied to were not interested in having the bother of a foreign student, but fortunately Meiji College of Oriental Medicine did welcome me, and in fact after my graduation 3 years later, sought my help in setting up an international program of study for students from the U.S. and Europe. Following my graduation from Meiji, I took the National Licensing Examinations and became licensed as an acupuncturist in Japan years before such a license was available in North America. I apprenticed at the Osaka Medical College Hospital Pain Clinic, directed by Masayoshi Hyodo, M.D., and the Kyoto Pain Control Institute, directed by Kunzo Nagayama, M.D. Both emphasized acupuncture for pain, reflecting the international interest in this aspect of acupuncture after Nixon's visit to China in 1972, although Dr. Nagayama practiced a traditional style, in combination with Chinese herbal formulas.

QUR: What similarities did Dr. Motoyama discover among the yogis, zen priests and other healer subjects?

RK: Over several decades of research, Dr. Motoyama had developed a psychological and physiological profile of the yogis and other advanced spiritual practitioners. He found that their practice initially aroused lower chakras or nervous plexi, with the emergence of concomitant psychophysiological disturbances or paranormal abilities, and that with further spiritual practice, these lower centers were controlled and progressively higher centers awakened and controlled. In this process, acupuncture meridian activity could be measured through the AMI device, a sophisticated electrodermal screening instrument that took multiple measurements of electrical resistance and potential at the meridian terminal points. This device has been used in research at major world universities and by prefectural governments in Japan as a preliminary medical screening instrument. Dr. Motoyama's work has been presented in hundreds of books and articles in various languages and he has also founded a graduate school in California, the California Institute for Human Science.

QUR: Could you please describe some of the history and challenges you faced as a young practitioner in Seattle in the 1970s as a “distinguished felon?”

RK: When I came to Seattle in 1978, there was tremendous public interest in acupuncture because of the media exposure, while medical doctors were referring to it as "quackupuncture." While pursuing a post-graduate program in clinical psychophysiology at University of Washington, I carried on an extremely busy practice of acupuncture at the Acadia Health Center in Seattle, where I nevertheless attempted to keep a low profile. There were no other visible practitioners in the area at that time and there was no legal status at all for acupuncture. When the state Medical Board decided to get control over the practice, there were required public hearings on a law that would make it necessary for practitioners to be supervised by a medical or osteopathic physician. I had founded the Acupuncture Association of Washington as a political action group to stop this bill from becoming law. Its members were primarily students in the acupuncture class I held in my living room, that eventually became the core of the first class of the Northwest Insitute of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine, which I co-founded in 1981. Some of these students, such as Jim Blair, Cindy Micleu, and Alex Holland, eventually became nationally known leaders in the acupuncture field. There were also patients or public supporters in the association, but strangely, no professional acupuncturist other than myself. Our lobbying efforts unfortunately did not block the Acupuncturist Physician Assistant Law of 1979, and I was forced to find an allopathic physician to work with, in spite of the lack of interest or knowledge on the part of conventional doctors. During a transitional period of underground practice, I was beginning my career like some other distinguished Asian practitioners in America, in the capacity of a felon. Eventually, however, I was fortunate to meet Robert A. Anderson, M.D., one of the founders of the American Holistic Medical Association (together with Norman Shealy, M.D.). I practiced in close association with Dr. Anderson for almost 10 years, even after there was an independent licensing law in Washington state. I also became a member of the first graduating class of naturopathic physicians from Bastyr University in 1982. When Dr. Anderson was ready to retire, I was able to buy the building from him in which I had my practice and expanded it to form the comprehensive natural medicine center that now exists. The clinic integrates European medical spa, Ayurvedic and Chinese medical methods, focused on programs of pain and stress management, medical detoxification or internal cleansing, allergy and immune disorders, weight and metabolic disorders.

QUR: In addition to these other conditions, you have been working with stroke patients of late. Can you describe some of the successes you have observed in that work?

RK: Recently, through my association with Northwest Hospital and also various rehabilitation hospitals and adult homes, I have been doing an increasing amount of treatment outside my clinic for stroke patients and even one patient in a vegetative state. Often, the stroke patients will exhibit immediate improvement in mobility of their limbs after a treatment combining acupuncture in body, ear and scalp areas, with micro-current electrical stimulation, Acutonics sound therapy and aromatherapy, considering that in the hospital settings herbal or nutritional therapy is usually not possible.

QUR: Before we close the interview, could you touch on the early EEG work you did at UW?

RK: At the University of Washington from 1978 to 1980, I was involved in performing and publishing the first research study to demonstrate the effectiveness of acupuncture through an objective measure, namely EEG brain wave measurement. A particular evoked potential EEG wave-form has been found to correlate with the subjective experience of pain. In the study, conducted in the Department of Anesthesiology, we delivered experimental pain through electrical stimulation of a tooth and then performed electrical acupuncture at the Hoku point bilaterally, measuring the change in the amplitude of the evoked potential wave. There was also an attempt to determine endorphin involvement in acupuncture by injecting naloxone, an opiate antagonist, finding a reduction in the amplitude of the wave-form after the original reduction by acupuncture and then seeing whether acupuncture would restore the original amplitude, indicating endorphin involvement. The first part of the study, demonstrating the analgesic effect through this objective measure, was statistically significant.

More specifically, the large amplitude evoked potential EEG wave corresponds to the analgesic effect and this was the wave form produced when acupuncture was performed, thus showing the analgesic effect of acupuncture to a statistical certainty. When naloxone, the opiate antagonist was injected, the wave form diminished in size, showing the loss of the acupuncture analgesic effect and possible involvement of endorphin release as a mechanism for acupuncture. When acupuncture was again performed, the wave form expanded to show restoration of the analgesic effect. The study was published in the Pain journal, I believe the Jan. 1980 issue.

QUR: What advice do you have for young practitioners getting started in today’s AOM environment?

RK: For practitioners getting started, I recommend learning acupuncture techniques that accomplish immediate results in pain or other symptom control. I have often given lecture-demonstrations at health fairs, health clubs, senior centers and physician gatherings. I always ask for a volunteer with a pain problem, and within a few minutes I am reliably able to relieve even chronic severe neck strains, headaches or tendonitis with the patient sitting before me fully clothed. I simply needle the appropriate micro-system points of ear, scalp and Korean Hand Acupuncture system, as well as the wrist and ankle system points, and points of the Master Tung and Richard Tan systems. The immediate success of such treatment is dramatic and usually results in several new appointments. Once these patients are introduced to the resources of my clinic, I can often move on to treat chronic internal disorders as well, with herbal and nutritional therapy along with ongoing acupuncture and other physical methods, including internal cleansing.

John Weeks Interview

As many of you know, The Integrator Blog News & Reports is featured monthly in the Qi-Unity Report. John Weeks, research advocate and networking maven, has lent his voice and organizing skills to the cause of integration since 1983. He was been actively involved in promoting research strategies in natural health care when he was a vice president at Bastyr University, helping create Bastyr’s first research department in the mid-1980s. Weeks’ publication serves as a hub of reference among the individuals and institutions that connect to the larger discourse on the role of complementary, alternative and integrative care – including AOM – on how health care takes shape in the U.S. An ongoing focus of the Integrator is clarifying the research agenda which will be of greatest value to advancing AOM and other whole-person fields. In this interview Weeks, discusses some of the dynamics that inform AOM research in the current environment.

QUR: Why is research important?

JW: Showing positive clinical and economic outcomes are critical in opening doors, whether to employers or hospitals or government agencies or community clinics or media or to more consumers. I also think there is something like “human need” at work here; I want to know more about what we do.

QUR: Holistic medicine addresses homeostatic balance in the body. Does the pan-systemic, interlocking puzzle of interconnected factors make conventional research models less appropriate for AOM?

JW: One instinctively responds “yes.” We have been schooled by pharmaceutical medicine to deify the single-agent, randomized controlled trial as the conventional research model. It is certainly a lousy if not impossible fit for whole person care that is individualized, and it might include, for instance, herbs, nutritional advice, some tui na, a quality and supportive clinician-patient relationship, and needles. However there are many methods in conventional research which can be very useful and which might better fit what we do. Google “Wayne Jonas evidence house” for a better view.

QUR: Can you give an example of a contemporary research model that you think is working?

JW: If our interest is in exploring what we do out in communities, with our patients – and on advancing our abilities to access patients – our primary focus needs to be on clinical outcomes of what the typical AAAOM member or other integrative practitioner does in his or her clinical practice. That’s kind of obvious, but it is frequently lost on the research community. We need to be embracing strategies which look at whole practices or, as some call it, whole systems. The “whole systems” concept is listed in the 5 year plan of the NIH National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. To date – while we have seen a few related initiatives – we haven’t seen much action.

QUR: Do you anticipate this part of the agenda will be elevated in the future?

JW: We need a concerted re-focusing of energies. I would call your readers’ attention to terrific work led by the Canadian Interdisciplinary Network for Complementary and Alternative Medicine Research. Check out www.outcomesdatabase.org. The site just went public this spring with a compendium of instruments which capture practical outcomes. I would bet that any AOM member skimming through the scores of patient survey instruments in that database would find themselves more aligned with the idea of research than they ever thought they could be. These are practical research tools which are closer to what clinicians typically care about.

QUR: You have written about a research strategy of working with employers - about the potential value of AOM and integrative strategies to what some employers call “the global costs associated with health.”

JW: I wrote a column recently in which I suggested that Dow Chemical may be integrative medicine’s best friend. The reason is that Dow is among a group of large employers who are deeply and economically interested in the health of their employers. They have realized that the cost of medical care is a small fraction of the global costs of an employee’s bad health. Medical costs are typically 25% or less. Other costs include those related to, for instance, absenteeism and disability. But the most significant cost associated with poor employee health – accounting for roughly 50% of the global cost of poor health to an employer – is productivity loss. The employers are calling this “presenteeism.”

QUR: I see. So how does “presenteeism” and the global costs framework fit into the AOM research agenda?

JW: Right now this framework is virtually unknown and under-utilized by AOM and integrative practice researchers, and it is a huge missed opportunity. An exception is Patricia Herman, ND, MS, PhD (cand.) who is heading up the fascinating AOM pilot at Good Samaritan Hospital in Los Angeles. Google “presenteeism” to learn more about it. Take a look at the validated presenteeism instrument developed by Debra Lerner and a group out of Tufts called the “Work Limitations Questionnaire.” What is exciting here is that many of the factors that contribute to lower productivity – to work limitations - are very familiar to AOM and other integrative practitioners. These are things like low energy, depression, headache, pain, adverse effects of conventional Pharma, allergies, asthma, and the management problems concerning an employee’s child. Most AOM clinicians I have met are pretty confident with their abilities to be effective in these areas. And betterment accounts for 50% of the costs of poor health to an employer. We should be all over this.

QUR: Will whole practices or whole systems be a more significant part of what NCCAM funds in the future?

JW: Good question. There are positive signs. I met with the new director of NCCAM, Josephine Briggs, MD, and she expressed interest. But what we face in elevating this agenda is a research infrastructure which has been built around a reductive model. Most researchers, grant reviewers, peer reviewers, and editors of journals have been schooled into that single-agent, pharmaceutical set of priorities. Many of our new CAM researchers who can speak eloquently about whole practices have learned to follow the dollar and are limiting their proposals to questions which they think are more likely to get funding. The nasty joke line is that many reductive researchers would rather know perfectly well something that is absolutely meaningless than to explore some suggestive but yet uncertain directions about things that might be powerfully meaningful. Changing that mind-set will require advocacy. I think if we advocate powerfully, NCCAM will be responsive.

QUR: What kinds of advocacy are you talking about?

JW: First, we need to frame our questions around their most significant value to our culture. Let me explain. Funding whole systems and whole practice research is not an AOM or integrative medicine issue. The present prioritization of the single agent placebo controlled trial, rather than clinical and global economic outcomes, harms our ability to understand and respond to chronic diseases. Chronic conditions are typically of multiple origins and suggest multiple, whole practice, whole system, and team approaches. Our research challenge in AOM is medicine’s challenge at this point in time. This is a natural area of leadership and partnership for all of the integrative disciplines.

QUR: What kind of partnership do you imagine?

JW: AOM’s voice, by itself, is going to be small. To make headway, all of our fields need to establish these approaches as a shared priority. As I said, I think NCCAM will be responsive if we have this conscious intention across disciplines. Many of our integrative MD colleagues are interested in this agenda as well. If for some reason NCCAM doesn’t move, then AAAOM and its newfound allies need to go to U.S. Senator Harkin and other key congressional leaders and make the case that the highest and best use of NCCAM dollars is to look at the role that AOM and other whole person approaches can have for reforming medicine by helping create health and taking people out of the sick care system. Our schools need to begin teaching the value of whole practice research outcomes in the context of the global costs associated with health. It’s a good fit with core philosophy. The paradigm is health-oriented, it’s a systems model. And the sensitivity to the interests of large employers also creates the possibility of developing alliances with powerful, large stakeholders. We need them. I like to think of the AAAOM and its integrative practice allies entering the policy arena with its case being argued by a set of large employers. That would help us move!

QUR: Quite an agenda.

JW: Well, leaders of the AOM and other integrative practice fields – naturopathic medicine, integrative MDs, holistic doctors and nurses, broad scope chiropractors - have been talking for decades about transforming health care and moving out of the disease paradigm. How many times have we heard some conference speakers urging that what healthcare needs is more of what AOM has to offer? I think this is our put-up-or-shut-up research agenda. I’d love to heard from any of your readers who agree or disagree! johnweeks@theintegratorblog.com

Integrator Blog News & Reports

Integration, by nature, asks us to open our peripheral visions. We are served to look at the whole of the field. We need to develop new fascia, new connectivity. Opportunities crop up in new places. The Integrator Blog News and Reports is meant to provide you with information, insights and tools to enhance integrated care in the environment you serve.

- John Weeks, publisher-editor

Bravo to Marja Verhoef, PhD and her team with the Canadian Interdisciplinary Network for Complementary and Alternative Medicine Research (IN-CAM)! On March 31, 2008, IN-CAM unveiled the IN-CAM Outcomes Database. The project, funded through the Lotte & John Hecht Memorial Foundation, brings together a huge set of instruments with which practitioners and researchers can explore their outcomes. While one might quibble with the non-inclusion of presenteeism and economic indicators, this database should become the center of the universe for the most productive research in complementary and integrative medicine. Ever wonder why it is leaders from Canada and not the United States who have taken the lead in this work?
More ...

Academic Advances: AMSA & NMSA, SPARC, UCLA, Harvard, NUHS, NIH-Yoga, Yale, NYCC, New Consortium Members, plus

Breakthrough: American Medical Student Association formally recognizes the Naturopathic Medical Student Association as an affiliate ... Fřnnebř to propose "peace treaty" in "research battleground" at May 18 SPARC meeting ... Harvard integrative clinic featured ... UCLA program offers seven approaches to back pain in consumer-focused event ... Formerly chiropractic-only schools gain recognition for AOM and ND programs ... Yale's kick-off event draws overflow crowd ... NIH to have May Yoga week ... U Mass natural products Master's degree now largely internet-based ... BU and Northwestern Feinberg bring to 41 the members of the Consortium of Academic Health Centers for Integrative Medicine ... Master's in Integrative Health in development for 2008 at National University, San Diego.
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Columnist Michael Levin: Opportunities for Integrative Medicine in a Recent AARP Report on Drug Price Escalation

Integrator columnist Michael Levin, founder of Health Business Strategies, is a long-time promoter of integrative medicine strategies that challenge the often costly, unsafe and quality of life damaging interventions promoted by Big Pharma. So when Levin, who has been an executive with both Pharma and dietary supplement firms, saw the new AARP report on drug price trends pre and post the implementation of the Medicare Drug Benefit, he analyzed it both for what Pharma had already extracted, and for what integrative medicine might. Here is Levin's brief report and view of opportunities.
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After Obama's Talk on Race - Reflections on Parallels in Healthcare Integration

[From my Integrative Practitioner Online column] "I have always viewed work in healthcare “integration” as deeply akin to the effort to racially integrate the culture we inhabit. So I was riveted when Barack Obama addressed the nation with a speech which was, as the Daily Show’s Jon Stewart put it, the first time “a prominent politician spoke to Americans about race, as though they were adults.” I listened as a child of parents who took me on Open Housing marches in Seattle 45 years ago. I also listened from within my 25 years of involvement with thousands of you in the plodding advancement of the “integration” of health care disciplines and practices. The parallels are profound. Between the dominant school of medicine and any healing-oriented, whole person approach, there exists a huge cultural and economic chasm."
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Chiropractors in the Nation's Largest Health System: Anthony Lisi, DC on Integration into Veterans Health Facilities

When Yale University School of Medicine recently chose to bring a chiropractor into their first Integrative Medicine Symposium, Anthony Lisi, DC was the chosen presenter. As director of the Veterans Health Administration's Chiropractic Service, Lisi sits in the hot-seat for the most significant complementary and alternative healthcare integration effort nationwide. To Lisi's account, practitioner-to-practitioner relationships and patient reports are overcoming the deep reluctance with which most of the VA's medical directors greeted this Congressionally-mandated program. The Integrator caught up with Lisi to learn more about this pioneering initiative.
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Resources

Integrator Archive by Subject for January-June 2007
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Integrator Archive by Subject for 2006: All Hot-linked
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Practice Management

The Power of Fire

AAAOM Activities

Mark your Calendars Today!

- Expo 2008 – October 16-19
Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine - Your Passport to Better Health
Chicago Westin Northshore, Wheeling, IL

The horizon of AOM is ever expanding. Each year as the AAAOM Expo Season rises, we are able to pause and appreciate the tangible growth of our profession within the context of the program that unfolds. How far have we come? Let’s take a closer look at what’s happening as we view some keynote highlights for this year’s event:

Josephine Briggs, director of the NCCAM, will open the conference General Session as our Keynote Speaker, articulating New Directions at NCCAM as she also seeks to better elucidate the research needs of our profession. Judy Becker Worsley is joining us from the UK to offer a Thursday pre-conference eight hour workshop on Classical Five Element Acupuncture and Spirit of the Points. Sherman Cohn, professor of law at Georgetown University, will deliver the keynote address at our annual banquet: Acupuncture & Oriental Medicine in the United States...History as a Passport to Now. Lixing Lao will lecture on evidence-based Electroacupuncture and encourages attendees to bring an EA device for the hands-on workshop. Yong-Suk Kim and a team of three Korean acupuncturists will journey from Korea to share their knowledge and practice of Korean Saam acupuncture. Miki Shima will unpack case histories from the Shang Han Lun masters. Challenges, Opportunities, & Paradigms for the Treatment of Infertility will be featured by a team of six fertility specialists from the U. S. and Canada. These represent just a few of the events that will tantalize, educate, inform, and energize you.

Registration formally opens the week of May 12th. The brochure is now available online. Or see our current lineup of exhibitors. Watch for your personal copy of the Expo 08 brochure which will premier in a mailbox near you this May, or join us in reading the Expo Edition of The American Acupuncturist, Volume 44 this June.

It’s a fun journey leading up to the event as our contact with you, our members and AOM colleagues expands. Old friendships are fortified and new ones are formed. Join us as we formally welcome this year’s Keynote Speakers to Expo 2008!

WELCOME EXPO 2008 KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

© Paul Fetters, Courtesy of HHMI

Josephine P. Briggs, MD, Director, National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, is an accomplished researcher and physician. Dr. Briggs received her AB in biology from Harvard-Radcliffe College and her MD from Harvard Medical School. She completed her residency training in internal medicine and nephrology at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, followed by a fellowship at Yale, then worked as a research scientist at the Physiology Institute at the University of Munich. In 1985, Dr. Briggs moved to the University of Michigan where she held several academic positions, including associate chair of research in the Department of Internal Medicine and professorships in the Division of Nephrology, Department of Internal Medicine and the Department of Physiology. She joined the National Institutes of Health in 1997 as director of the Division of Kidney, Urologic, and Hematologic Diseases at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. In 2006, Dr. Briggs accepted a position as senior scientific officer at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Dr. Briggs has published more than 130 research articles. She has served on the editorial boards of several journals and was deputy editor for the Journal of Clinical Investigation. Dr. Briggs is an elected member of the American Association of Physicians and the American Society of Clinical Investigation and a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She is a recipient of many awards and prizes, including the Volhard Prize of the German Nephrological Society, the Alexander von Humboldt Scientific Exchange Award, and NIH Director's Awards for her role in the development of the Trans-NIH Type I Diabetes Strategic Plan and her leadership of the Trans-NIH Zebrafish committee.

Judy Becker Worsley, JD, DAc (U.K.), DiplAc (NCCAOM) began her acupuncture studies in England under Professor J.R. Worsley. In 1974, she received her licentiate degree from the College of Traditional Chinese Acupuncture, (CTA) UK. Judy then earned her bachelors, masters and doctorate degrees from CTA. She traveled extensively with J.R. Worsley, conducting seminars for students, teachers and patient consultations. continuing this work following Professor Worsley’s death in 2003. With J.R. Worsley she founded the Master Apprentice Program (MAP™) in 1997 to develop practitioners of the Classical Five-Element Acupuncture tradition.

Sherman Louis Cohn, JD, has been a professor at the Georgetown University Law School since 1965. He specializes in the fields of civil procedure and professional responsibility and has published various books and articles on those subjects in recent years. Before joining the Law Center faculty, he served as a clerk for Judge Charles Fahy of the D.C. Circuit and in the Appellate Section of the Civil Division of the Department of Justice. He is a member of the D.C., Maryland, and Virginia bars and is also a member of the American Law Institute, the American Judicature Society, and the Society of American Law Teachers. He served as the Administrator of Preview of U.S. Supreme Court Cases from 1976-79 and as Director of Continuing Legal Education at the Law Center from 1977-84. From 1982-93, he served as chair of the National Accreditation Commission for Schools and Colleges of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine. From 1983-87, he served as president of the American Section of the International Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists and as deputy president of the International Association. He is currently the President of the Jewish Law Association. He has also served as a director of the Foundation for Mideast Communication. From 1985-87, he served as chair of the Georgetown Annual Fund. Earlier he served as chair of the Georgetown Law Fund. During 1997-98, he lectured in Germany, Columbia, Russia, Korea, China, Japan, and Paraguay, and in 1999 in Italy.

Korean Delegation: The AAAOM cordially welcomes the four-member Korean delegation from Kyung Hee University. Drs. Yong-Suk Kim OMD, PhD, Shanghoon Lee, OMD, PhD, LAc, Kyung-sub Lee, OMD, PhD and Deok-Sang Hwang, OMD, MOM, will journey from Seoul, Korea to speak as a panel to Expo 2008 attendees on Korean Saam Acupuncture.

Five Steps Toward Writing an Effective Rebuttal

By Douglas Newton

One: Frame your Argument with Charm

Psychology tells us that we are all more likely to listen to a message when that message is presented with civility and respect. This presents the first challenge and something of an overall law to remember when writing a rebuttal to an article. No one wants to listen to abuse or name-calling. Arguments ultimately stand on their own merits, and as such may stand separate from how one may feel about a subject. This is, of course, easier said than done. After all, indignation is what stirred my interest in the problem of misrepresentation of AOM in the media in the first place. Emotion can be useful to energize the creation of an argument (scribbling madly in a brainstorming process). Eventually, however, emotional balance and poise prove essential when writing a letter to another human being. Be kind and your message may be heard.

Two: Offer Counter-Arguments

What do you wish to accomplish? You can draw in the receiver by demonstrating an effort to understand his/her perspective. Persuasive letters often begin not with one’s own assertions but rather with an acknowledgment of another’s perspective. Follow this acknowledgement with a well-phrased invitation to consider another point of view. You are not “correcting somebody” so much as expanding a reporter’s perspective to include information you feel has been unfairly neglected.

Here’s an example:

This is a good beginning to a letter, for the most part. It mentions the article by name and date, and assumes a formal but friendly tone. It considers the reporter’s point of view and even adopts some of Mr. Smith’s perspective. There is one major flaw, however. Directing a reporter to a web site homepage only gets him/her to a general place where all kinds of information compete for limited attention. We want to entice Mr. Smith to pick an apple from a specific tree, not send him into an orchard equipped with a ladder and some vague directions. Which fact brings me to...

Three: Be as Specific as Possible

Let’s try again. This time we’ll write to Ms. Jones. Imagine you are writing a letter rebutting an article that says no studies exist linking acupuncture to pain relief.

Four: Ask For Clarification in Print, Offer Help and Close Nicely

Now that we have broadened the perspective on the specific matter at issue, we need to close quickly and ask for a specific solution. Sometimes it isn’t clear precisely how to address reporting errors, but most reporters do value accuracy in reporting. Assume the best. Appealing politely to journalistic integrity affords you a better chance of eroding the subtle walls of emotional resistance. Let’s finish the previous letter (charmingly, but with a solid request):

Five: Follow Up

Most of us pave the road to hell with our good intentions. “Life is robust,” Bekah Christensen, AAAOM’s ED, always says. It doesn’t hurt to say that you will follow-up. And then. . .well. . .do follow up. People are more likely to take action if they know that a message may be repeated, rather than go away, if nothing happens.

And while I’m repeating myself, please know that the people most capable of representing the truth and beauty of AOM are those who practice it. Kindly get involved and help us to help you represent the profession. If you don’t, who will?

Contact: dnewton@aaaomonline.org

*All articles referenced in this article are fictional examples.

Links

Here are some links to recent AOM articles of note.

www.nytimes.com

Research article: Study protocol for a randomized controlled trial in general practice investigating the effectiveness of acupuncture against migraine.

www.biomedcentral.com

This is an article and video on acupuncture used to treat neck pain, preferred technique in surveyed participants. The site, b5media, gets wide coverage and lists many health issues and topics.

www.helpmyhurt.com

Meeting Marks 10th Anniversary of NIH Acupuncture Conference

nccam.nih.gov

Firsthand testimonial about relatively fast and permanent relief from wrist pain after injury to site, following months of using a wrist brace and cortisone treatments.

www.kmbc.com

Stroke victims sing and then later regain speech.

www.nytimes.com

“Nobel laureate physicist, Murray Gell-Mann, has de?ned a natural law as a compressed description, available beforehand, of the regularities of a phenomenon. The Galilean spell that has driven so much science is the faith that all aspects of the natural world can be described by such laws. Perhaps my most radical scienti?c claim is that we can and must break the Galilean spell.”

www.edge.org

A new holistic pharmacy chain is expanding in the Bay Area, offering traditional pharmaceuticals and alternative medicines as well as experts capable of dispensing advice on the use of Western, Asian and alternative medicine products. It offers Chinese herbs in capsule form. Is this part of an integration trend?

www.insidebayarea.com

Long practiced outside of conventional medicine, herbalism is becoming more popular as up-to-date analysis and research show their value in the treatment and prevention of disease. What is the general public is reading about medicinal herbs.

www.create-health-and-wellness.com

Herbal acne remedies can be an effective and natural approach to treating acne. Many acne sufferers find that commercial preparations dry their skin and don’t work for them anyway so they are turning to natural treatments such as herbal acne remedies.

acneuncovered.com

From a newsletter in Johnson City, Tennessee:

“Before the Confucian period or Maoism, when all these books were burned,” Marshall said. “They made their way to Vietnam unscathed, and they were translated into ancient Vietnamese.” The school has a wide array of classes that are serving as core course materials for the classes taught at Jung Tao. The array of classes is quite complete; take a look at this mountain location’s curriculum.

www.tricities.com

Read what a Salem, NC acupuncturist says about “green” alternative medicine practices. He focuses on all the allopathic pharmaceuticals we take that end up in our water system, saying that certain alternative treatment systems do not contribute to this, acupuncture included.

www.wickedlocal.com

More than one in four U.S. hospitals now offer alternative and complementary therapies, such as acupuncture, homeopathy, and massage therapy.

A new survey of nearly 1,400 U.S. hospitals shows more mainstream medical institutions are providing complementary and alternative therapies to meet growing demand.

report-trans-union-expression.blogspot.com

If you have never gone to Wikipedia.org to peruse the TCM listings, check this one out.

en.wikipedia.org

An acupuncturist specializing in fertility issues has been building her own herbal apothecary that helps nourish and tone the reproductive system.

www.the-fertility-acupuncturist.com

The American Society of Health Systems Pharmacists has compiled a list of tips to help patients avoid medication errors. This list is applicable to herbal medicines as well as allopathic medications.

www.napsnet.com

For science-focused, authoritative information on alternative medicine, visit these blogs from respected doctors, authors and other experts.

Dr. Brad’s Conventional and Alternative Medicine
Dr. Brad is Senior Medical Director at Revolution Health. His blog on conventional and alternative medicine includes treatments for diabetes, back pain, anxiety and even diarrhea.

Mind.Body.Spirit Journal
Author and self-help guru Ken Winston Caine posts about holistic healing. Recent articles include “Reliable herbal medicine information” and “Double your success by invoking the healing power of love.”

Planet Shiatsu
Students and teachers of shiatsu contribute to this blog about the alternative healing powers of shiatsu.

Dr. Tori Hudson, N.D.
Dr. Tori Hudson is Medical Director at A Woman’s Time, P.C., a professor at the National College of Naturopathic Medicine and adjunct clinical professor at Bastyr University and Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine. She posts about natural treatments for menopause, cancer, and bone health, among other ailments.

Alternative Health Practice
Tara Gignac, N.D., and Dan Clements help alternative medical professionals improve their practices by doling out general health practitioner advice and information about the CAM field in particular.

Complementary and Alternative Medicine Law Blog
Michael H. Cohen, Esq., discusses the leading questions about CAM and the law, like malpractice, ethics, insurance and more.

Alternative Healing Today
This comprehensive website and blog discusses everything from magnetic therapy to acupuncture to organic food. Check the recommended books section for even more reading on alternative medicine.

Continuing Education and Events

Yale School of Medicine Hosts Integrative Medicine Scientific Symposium

The Department of Agriculture and the Department of Health and Human Services announce the intent to establish a Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee and invite nominations for the committee. Nominations must be submitted by close of business on May 24, 2008. The Committee will evaluate whether a revision of the 2005 edition of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans is warranted, based on a thorough evaluation of the most current scientific and applied literature and, if so, will proceed to develop recommendations for these revisions in an advisory report to the Secretaries of Agriculture and Health and Human Services.
http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2008/pdf/E8-7614.pdf

Look for our upcoming revue of the book
“The Tao of Fertility” by Daoshing Ni and Dana Herko, in the summer edition of The American Acupuncturist.

AAAOM Student Organization

Foundation For Your Future: Forming an AAAOM-SO College Chapter

Products, Services, and Member Savings

Dear Prospective Advertiser:

ENCLS: AA/QUR Ad Card (PDF); Adv. Contract (PDF)

In closing,

As always, your feedback serves as a useful lens through which we may look at how well we are serving our members. Please take a moment to express your thoughts to us.

General Feedback

In Health,

Rebekah Christensen, Executive Director

Douglas Newton, Managing Editor