Basketball Acupuncture Makes a Splash on National Television
As acupuncture makes its presence known outside the health care market, it is becoming a frequent subject in commercials, radio ads and other aspects of popular culture. In two of the latest examples of its increasing popularity, acupuncture formed the basis of the Sept. 7, 2003 episode of the popular show "Sex in the City," and was featured prominently in a feature on "Monday Night Football," bringing the benefits of acupuncture to more than 20 million viewers.
In the episode of "Sex and the City," the character Charlotte, played by Kristin Davis, visited an acupuncturist known as "Dr. Mao" to increase her chances of becoming pregnant. In addition to receiving acupuncture, Dr. Mao also taught Charlotte concentration techniques to tune out unwanted noise.
Eight days later, New York Giants defensive lineman Michael Strahan was seen being treated with acupuncture needles on national television. During the halftime segment of the game between the Giants and the Dallas Cowboys, Strahan showed viewers what it was like during a typical week in the National Football League. On an off-day, Strahan visited an acupuncturist and received a series of treatments to his upper legs and lower back to treat a recurring back problem, along with a massage and adjustments to his neck and spine.
Nielsen ratings for the week of Sept. 15-21 show the football game featuring Michael Strahan's acupuncture treatment was watched by more than 18 million people. Another five million people watched Kristin Davis see an acupuncturist on "Sex and the City."
Bastyr Joins Dietary Supplement Education Agency
Bastyr University has joined the board of directors of the Dietary Supplement Education Alliance, a not-for-profit coalition that provides education and information on the benefits of dietary supplements in optimizing health and preventing disease. Bastyr will be represented on the board by Dr. Thomas Shepherd, the university's president. "
We are pleased to support the DSEA and their critical mission of providing accurate and objective scientific information about nutritional supplements to consumers," said Dr. Shepherd. "... Consumer education is a vital part of our mutual mission."
"We're very proud to be aligned in this effort with Bastyr University," said Elliot Balbert, chair of the DSEA Board. We also believe having Tom Shepherd representing Bastyr on our board will be a great asset."
Five Branches Welcomes New Faculty Members
Five Branches Institute has added three new practitioners to its faculty. They are:
In addition, Janice Walton-Hadlock, LAc, will return to the institute to supervise its internship program. Ms. Walton-Hadlock graduated from Five Branches in 1994, and is the author of a book on Parkinson's disease.
Chronic pain afflicts over 20% of the adult population. Sadly, most MDs have essentially no education in treating pain, beyond offering a few toxic medications. Then they tend to steer people with pain away from those health practitioners who are trained. This puts the acupuncture community on the front lines for addressing this epidemic.
When the body is going through a stressful event, the sympathetic system is activated. This activation will help the body with a life-threatening situation. If this state is activated for prolonged periods of time, it starts to consume energy. These traumatic events that generate stressors in the autonomic nervous system (ANS) will eventually become internalized.
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One of the things that makes acupuncture so difficult to measure is that the medicine actually does contain some esoteric aspects. There have been numerous studies that demonstrate the neurochemical reasoning behind why acupuncture points stimulate the autonomic nervous system to enact change However, not all the benefits of TCM can easily be measured by randomized, controlled trials. But does that make them fundamentally and definitively untrue?
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