August National Links
As mentioned in July’s Qi Unity Report: Wait until August 1 before getting acupuncture in Minnesota. As of that date, a new state law will require some health insurance plans to cover more acupuncture treatments.
Acupuncture is a health treatment that involves inserting thin needles into the skin at specific points to reduce symptoms such as nausea and pain. It started in China more than 2,000 years ago.
The new law requires Minnesota health plans that cover acupuncture provided by physicians to also cover acupuncture provided by licensed acupuncture practitioners. But health plans that don't already cover acupuncture aren't required to start.
www.twincities.com
from Charlottesville, VA: CVCA is a volunteer organization comprised of licensed acupuncturists in our area. The acupuncturists had just started a free program to benefit veterans, reservists and active-duty military personnel and their families, and they were hoping I’d help spread the word.
The program is a weekly, hour-long clinic in which the ancient art of acupuncture is used to relieve symptoms of stress and trauma. Stress hasn’t been a complete stranger in my life, and, being a veteran, I thought I’d give it a try.
“We didn’t dream this up on our own,” Jody Forman told me on my first visit to the clinic, which is held every Monday evening in the Jefferson Area Board for Aging building in Charlottesville.
“As a licensed acupuncturist, I subscribe to an acupuncturist information site on the Internet. They sent me a blurb about an acupuncture program for veterans in Portland, Maine, started by Acupuncturists Without Borders.
“After I saw their flier about what they were doing I thought, ‘Hot damn, we can do that here.’ That’s how the ball got rolling.”
www2.dailyprogress.com
from: The New York Times-The poor and infirm lined up in droves, Jennifer Steinhauer reports from Los Angeles. They came for new teeth mostly, but also for blood pressure checks, mammograms, immunizations and acupuncture for pain. South Los Angeles is a place where health care is scarce, and so when it was offered, word got around.
For the second day in a row, thousands of people lined up on Wednesday for free dental, medical and vision services at the Los Angeles Forum, courtesy of a non-profit group that more typically provides health care for the rural poor.
When Remote Area Medical, the Tennessee-based organization running the event, decided to try its hand at large urban medical services, its principals thought Los Angeles would be a good place to start. But they were surprised by the outpouring of need. Set up for eight days of care, the group was overwhelmed on the first day after admitting 1500 people through the door.
www.nytimes.com
www.theage.com.au
High-tech images of the brains of chronic pain sufferers have found that the ancient practice of acupuncture fights pain by making key brain cells more sensitive to the pain-dampening effects of opioid chemicals. The study, published online in the August issue of the journal NeuroImage, comes less than a year after the publication of a controversial study that concluded acupuncture was no more effective than sham treatment at reducing pain.
Researchers at the University of Michigan's Chronic Pain and Fatigue Research Center used a positron emission tomography (PET) scanner to view the brains of 20 women diagnosed with fibromyalgia who reported suffering nerve and muscle pain at least 50% of the time. The PET scans were conducted during each woman's first acupuncture session and, a month later, her eighth.
In the regions of the brain that process and dampen pain signals -- the amygdala, caudate, cingula, thalamus and insula -- the PET scans showed an increase in the receptivity -- and possibly the number -- of brain cells to which opioid substances bind. Study author Richard E. Harris said that suggests that acupuncture appears to make the body more responsive to opioid painkillers.
latimesblogs.latimes.com
A recent study from the Mayo Clinic found acupuncture helpful in treating the fatigue and anxiety commonly experienced by fibromyalgia patients. In the trial, patients who received acupuncture to counter their fibromyalgia symptoms reported improvement in fatigue and anxiety, among other symptoms. Acupuncture was well tolerated, with minimal side effects.
In the double-blind study, Mayo Clinic doctors gave 25 fibromyalgia patients acupuncture, and 25 “sham” acupuncture treatments. Patients received six treatments during the two- to three-week study. Those who received acupuncture treatments reported less fatigue and anxiety one month following after treatment than did the “sham” group.
"The results of the study convince me there is something more than the placebo effect to acupuncture," says David Martin, M.D., Ph.D., lead author of the acupuncture article and a Mayo Clinic anesthesiologist. "It affirms a lot of clinical impressions that this complementary medical technique is helpful for patients."
durhamcounty.mync.com
Acupuncture -- using tiny needles in the skin to relieve pain -- really does change the way the brain manages pain, according to University of Michigan researchers.
They used brain scans to determine that acupuncture actually improves the functioning of receptors in the brain that can process and dampen pain signals, according to a news release on the work.
Painkillers, such as morphine, codeine and other medications are thought to work by binding to these opioid receptors in the brain and spinal cord.
Richard E. Harris, who wrote the study, said it could mean that patients with chronic pain could then get more benefit from those drugs.
Some large studies have shown that acupuncture is effective against pain, but they have also indicated that fake acupuncture also works, meaning that it could be that there is only a placebo effect. "Interestingly both acupuncture and sham acupuncture groups had similar reductions in clinical pain," Harris said. "But the mechanisms leading to pain relief are distinctly different."
The study participants included 20 women who had been diagnosed with fibromyalgia, a chronic pain condition, for at least a year, and experienced pain at least 50 percent of the time. During the study they agreed not to take any new medications for their fibromyalgia pain. The results appeared in the September Journal of NeuroImage.
www.whiotv.com
Bodywork modalities such as massage therapy, acupuncture, reflexology and aromatherapy have demonstrated success in improving the quality of life measures that can make surviving cancer such a challenge. Unfortunately, a significant percentage of breast cancer survivors are unable to afford the supportive benefits associated with massage therapy and other holistic health practices.
Addressing this need, Luana Halpern had the vision and drive to found You Can Thrive!, a unique, integrative wellness center offering free or affordable educational, supportive and integrative medical modalities for breast cancer survivors. Located in New York City, Halpern is a pioneer in integrating patient advocacy, symptom reduction, mind-body cohesion and other educative tools to implement a breast cancer survivorship plan.
Read an interview with her:
www.integrative-healthcare.org
Of particular interest to some investigators were the 57 tattoo markings that have been revealed on Otzi’s body. Initially the assumption was that the tattoos may have been applied for the same reasons people obtain tattoos today. Some wondered whether the markings were simply adornment. Maybe they signified ritualistic accomplishments or were indicators of belonging to a certain family or group.
Finally, someone made the astute observation that the markings were in places consistent with acupuncture points.
www.murfreesboropost.com
As Bob Linde deftly sticks five needles into Charlie Minnick's ear, Minnick lifts his chin and takes a deep breath. The needles pinch. It's worse in one spot inside the top of his left ear. His mouth tenses with pain. It's the lungs' pressure point. The 74-year-old military veteran had a pack-a-day smoking habit for 25 years. Minnick doesn't believe in Tylenol. And he doesn't like shots. But for him, acupuncture works.
JoAnne Lehrfeld, a licensed acupuncturist since 2001, runs the free acupuncture clinic as part of the Military Stress Recovery Project. The local clinic is an affiliate of Acupuncturists Without Borders, a national organization formed in 2006. The clinic averages six people a week.
www.tampabay.com
from TIME magazine: According to data released this week tracking Americans' out-of-pocket spending on health care, each year we fork out some $33.9 billion for "complementary and alternative medicine"—everything ranging from acupuncture and massage therapy to yoga and herbal supplements. The nearly $40 billion in spending represents just 1.5% of overall annual health care costs, which hover around a whopping $2.2 trillion, but 11.2% of all out-of-pocket expenditures.
wellness.blogs.time.com