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Our 2025 Goal: Advocacy Through Education
News / Profession

Our 2025 Goal: Advocacy Through Education

As we move into the Year of the Snake, let’s embrace the snake’s deep-thinking nature and ask ourselves four important questions, all of which relate to a single journey: advocating for our medicine by educating others about its value. Now is the time for all acupuncturists to come together to strengthen the profession, share knowledge, advocate for advancement – and help more patients access you as a vital element of their whole-health care.

Marilyn Allen, Editor at Large
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Your Practice / Business
Use Automated Marketing to Support Healthy Change in Your Patients
Use Automated Marketing to Support Healthy Change in Your Patients

Think of your most difficult patient – the one you try to motivate and work so hard with to develop a realistic treatment plan with achievable and measurable goals. Week after week, you see this patient struggle, sinking deeper into hopelessness as their health and quality of life continue to worsen. What if there was something else you could do that could change their outlook and their life? The solution is as simple as an automated program.

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Antonio Arias
Chinese & Asian Medicine
The Interstitium and the Eight Extraordinary Vessels, as Taught by Wang Ju-Yi
The Interstitium and the Eight Extraordinary Vessels, as Taught by Wang Ju-Yi

To paraphrase the Tao de Jing; a bowl is useful because of the empty space. Recent anatomical research uncovered evidence for previously undescribed large-scale pathways that span organs, blood vessels and other connective tissue. These pathways are defined by what is known as the interstitial space between cells. The newer research provides evidence that these interstitial spaces actually make very large-scale networks between different types of tissue.

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Leo Saraceno, CMT
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Chronic / Acute Conditions
Laboratory Detection and Treatment of Primary Hypertension
Laboratory Detection and Treatment of Primary Hypertension

Primary hypertension is defined as elevated blood pressure readings consistently exceeding 140/90 with no known causative conditions or factors. Presently, there are four categories of medications designed to treat hypertensive disorders from a conventional model. Recently, research has shown how several different nutrients share the properties and modes of action as these conventionally prescribed medications, making them therapeutic adjuncts, and in some cases, even replacements.

Frank Driano, DC, DCBCN
Senior Health
Arthritis: Osteo vs. Rheumatoid
Arthritis: Osteo vs. Rheumatoid

Arthritis literally means “joint inflammation.” Any movable joint in the body can be affected. The common syndrome between them is blood stagnation – sharp pain in a fixed site. Heat excess (inflammation) may or may not be a significant symptom. Most cases of chronic arthritis fall into one of two classifications: osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis.

E Douglas Kihn, DOM, LAc (ret.)
Anti Aging / Healthy Aging
Why Every Acupuncturist Should Practice Qigong (Pt. 4)
Why Every Acupuncturist Should Practice Qigong

It’s hard to say why qigong tends to have such a low profile, even among acupuncturists, although I can suggest a few possible reasons. Beginners quite commonly report feelings of frustration and discomfort when asked to stand silently or perform movements coordinated with deep, slow breathing. It is also true that qigong practice can trigger other, powerful emotional responses.

Peter Deadman
Featured

Foundations of Patient Success: OPQRST(L)

What’s the single most important thing to ensure your patient gets better? The key is patient education and scheduling appropriately. But how do you do that in a clinically relevant way that is representative of a medical professional? The answer lies in the most fundamental aspect of our intakes: OPQRST(L).

John Rybak, DAc
Reader Favorites
Diagnosis
That Nagging Qi Stagnation Between the Shoulder Blades (Pt. 2)
That Nagging Qi Stagnation Between the Shoulder Blades

After a thorough examination to rule out the cervical and thoracic spine, what you have left is sharp, localized qi stagnation of the soft tissues causing the “rhomboid pain.” If it’s not the C or T spine causing the problem, then what could be causing this tissue issue? It can be a bunch of different reasons such as dehydration, electrolyte imbalance, poor posture, muscle imbalances, trauma, deconditioning, overuse, etc.

Christopher Chapleau, DAc, LAc, Dipl. Ac., AIT, IMT, MSHP, CES, HMS
Billing / Fees / Insurance
Billing Insurance: How to Get Started
Billing Insurance: How to Get Started

Ready to bill insurance - but don't know how to get started? Learn the basic requirements, which insurances to accept (and which to avoid, and other factors to consider. Billing insurance may seem like a hassle, but it will open doors to allow more patients to experience your medicine - plus it's a great way to grow your practice at the same time.

Samuel A. Collins
Acupuncture & Acupressure
Before You Use Your Needles...
Before You Use Your Needles...

When learning traditional East Asian medicine, we are taught the four pillars of diagnosis: inspection, auscultation and olfaction, inquiry, and palpation. When it comes to palpation, there is often a quick mention of feeling the acupuncture channels, and then the focus moves on to pulse diagnosis. Little to no time is spent palpating the channels – or the skin for that matter.

Kenton Sefcik, RAc, Dipl. Ac., Dipl. TCM
Evidence / Research / Science
$1.8 Million Research Grant to Study Herbal Medicine
Herbal Medicine for Type 1 Diabetes
Research Team to Investigate Shan Zhu Yu for Type 1 Diabetes

The National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH), the primary federal agency spearheading research on integrative health, has awarded a five-year, $1.8 million grant to study the effectiveness of shan zhu yu (Fructus corni / Cornus officinalis) in treating type 1 diabetes.

Editorial Staff
Women's Health
A TCM Understanding of PCOS and PCOS-Friendly Herbal Formulas (Pt. 2)
A TCM Understanding of PCOS and PCOS-Friendly Herbal Formulas

As acupuncturists and herbalists, we have powerful tools in our hands to stop the huge population that is relying on birth control pills and metformin. As these two cases illustrate, we can help them by addressing the root causes – not only to restore their current reproductive health and fertility, but also to prevent PCOS-related health risks in the future.

Iris Lee, LAc