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Shoulder Pain: The Supraspinatous Muscle

By Whitfield Reaves, OMD, LAc and Chad Bong, MS, LAc

As a practitioner of acupuncture for more than 25 years, there is no single injury I find more rewarding to treat than shoulder pain due to supraspinatous tendonitis. I was fortunate enough to have studied trigger points with Dr. Janet Travell early in my career. Her work on myofascial pain syndromes changed the way I think about acupuncture and Chinese medicine, and has led to many of the treatments and techniques that I use in clinical practice.

Moxibustion and Indoor Air Quality

By Peter Dubitsky, MS, LAc

In April 2009, the Tri-State College of Acupuncture (TSCA), hired a private contractor who specializes in environmental air-quality testing, to perform an assessment in the TSCA clinic training room to determine the environmental effects of burning moxa. The college was concerned about possible health hazards from exposure to the smoke or by-products of moxa combustion. This has ramifications for both practitioners and patients alike.

Violence and Stereotypes

By Gregory Ross, LAc

It had been a long time and was always unnerving. Two counselors and I had our lives threatened. Actually, the person we were dealing with threatened to "take out" anyone who got in his way, staff or client. As he put it, "We all gonna be on the news." The story is cliched but nonetheless upsetting. Abusive sort-of-ex-boyfriend of client is asked to honor confidentiality and leave. Any limitations are perceived by him as disrespecting his concept of manhood. All reasonable conversation comes to a halt. County sheriffs are called as he saunters away spewing threats and epithets.

Take a Nap

By Andrew Rader, LAc, MS

What do Winston Churchill, Napoleon Bonaparte, Albert Einstein, Leonardo Da Vinci and John F. Kennedy all have in common, other than that they are all men? They all took regular afternoon naps. Our culture has a problem with sleep in general and napping specifically. In our quest for ever-increasing productivity, a nap and early bedtime are frowned upon. We are multitasking and doing "one more thing" until late into the night. However, the tide may be beginning to shift. Arianna Huffington, in an article titled" Sleep Challenge 2010: Women, It's Time to Sleep Our Way to the Top. Literally." put out a challenge to women this past January to get "a full night's sleep" each night for one month. Unfortunately, it was sold on the concept that more sleep makes women more productive, but it was a step in the right direction. Practitioners of holistic medicine know how critical sleep is to our overall health, but do we really get it?