The National Acupuncture Foundation (NAF) wishes to announce that it has engaged Tierney Tully, MSOM, Dipl. Ac. (NCCAOM), as its executive director. The administration of the NAF was previously conducted under a management contract with the Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine Alliance. Ms. Tully, employed by the Alliance, acted as executive director for the NAF under that arrangement. When Ms. Tully left the Alliance in June of this year, the NAF board asked her to continue as the executive director of the NAF, a position that she has accepted. Ms. Tully looks forward to bringing more recognition to the work and programs of the NAF, and to helping the organization achieve its goals as a prominent organization within the acupuncture and Oriental medicine community. The NAF publishes the Clean Needle Technique Manual for Acupuncturists in English-, Chinese- and Korean-language versions. The fifth edition of the manual was released earlier this year and represents a comprehensive revision of previously covered material, as well as new material. NAF also publishes the Legislative Handbook for the Practice of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine and Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine Laws. Due to popular demand, Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine Laws is currently being updated; the new edition will be released early in 2005. The NAF is also publishing a new title by Michael H. Cohen. Mr. Cohen is known for his extensive writings on complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) law. The book, Legal Issues in Alternative Medicine, will be available in early 2005.
In addition to its publishing projects, the NAF maintains a database of licensed acupuncturists throughout the country. The list is available to rent in full or state-by-state.
The NAF Board of Directors will also be meeting to discuss new projects, including a proposed scholarship program for minority students interested in the AOM field.
The mailing address for the NAF will continue to be 6405 43rd Avenue Ct NW, Suite B, Gig Harbor, WA 98335. The telephone number also remains the same at (253) 851-6538. You may also now reach the NAF by e-mail at director@nationalacupuncturefoundation.org. A Web site is currently under construction at www.nationalacupuncturefoundation.org.
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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