You've decided to pursue a career in acupuncture and Oriental medicine. You've graduated and are now a licensed acupuncturist. So, what do you do now? Where can you go to find information on the latest products, continuing education programs, and other goods and services to help your practice grow?
"What Are My Choices?" is here to answer those questions. What Are My Choices? is a periodic column that gives you the information you need straight from the experts - the companies themselves. This issue's column focuses onpublished products such as books, charts and videotapes - all important components of a successful acupuncture and Oriental medicine practice.
Acu-Free.com: Acu-Free.com brings you the best in distance learning on video. Earn 15 CEUs/PDAs for recertification with "Expert Acupuncture." Learn from Dr. Holmes Keikobad, world-renowned teacher and practitioner of acupuncture and Oriental healthcare; he has practiced on three continents, and set up healthcare systems for large cities and special populations. These videos were produced and directed by Carol Andrade, PhD, LAc, award-winning writer and producer of medical media. Tel: 480-481-0009; e-mail: helix99@mail.com; Web: www.acu-free.com.
Acupuncture Media Works: Provides top-quality patient education tools that are focused on helping you grow your practice. Our products are designed and created by an acupuncturist who uses his own clinic as a living laboratory to ensure the effectiveness of these products. We provide the most succinct, effective, and affordable patient education and practice building tools. Tel: 866-696-7577; Web: www.acupuncturemediaworks.com.
Blue Poppy: Established in 1982, Blue Poppy Enterprises is the world's largest English-language publisher of books and educational products about Chinese medicine and acupuncture. From a single self-published and self-promoted book, Blue Poppy now publishes 83 titles, from translations of pre-modern masters to new contemporary clinical manuals that help provide the bridge between Western and Chinese medicine. Tel: 800-448-8372; Web: www.bluepoppy.com.
Elsevier: Proudly publishes Mosby, Saunders, Churchill Livingstone, Butterworth-Heinemann, and Hanley & Belfus titles for the Complementary and Alternative market. Tel : 800-545-2522; Web: http://us.elsevierhealth.com.
Healinghands Media: Healinghands Media is the brainchild of Daniel Wasserman, DOM, whose goal it is to develop quality video products as a resource for modern practitioners in holistic medicine. Tel : 305-674-8711; Web: www.healinghandsmedia.com.
Lhasa OMS: Since 1980, Lhasa OMS has been providing the highest quality acupuncture supplies at the lowest possible prices. We carry an entire line of educational products, including acupuncture books, meridian charts, and human models. Visit our new and improved website where online ordering is available 24 hours a day. Order your supplies from the comfort of your own home. New 2005 catalog now available. Tel: 800-722-8775; e-mail: customerservice@lhasaoms.com; Web: www.LhasaOMS.com.
Omni Publishing: We create contemporary media to convey your message to your clients. Our focus is you and enhancing your practice. More than just the plain looking envelope, we take Acupuncture Media to a higher level, which is sure to be recognized by your clients. Tel: 720-299-9860; Web: www.omni-publishing.com.
Shya Publications: Chinese Herbal Patent Medicines: A Clinical Desk Reference by Jake Paul Fratkin. A complete discussion of 1,280 available Chinese herbal products based on classical and modern hospital formulas. Each description includes energetic application, symptoms, clinical comments, cautions and ingredient percentages. 80 pages of color photos for product identification. A complete listing of toxicology reports on heavy metals, added pharmaceuticals and pesticides, as well as a listing of endangered wildlife. Tel: 303-554-0722; Web: www.ShyaPublications.com.
White Dove Publishing: Since 1983, White Dove Publishing has provided patient education material to alternative practitioners and currently distributes The Acupuncture Answer Book to acupuncturists throughout the nation. This 32-page book, answering more than two dozen questions in "patient language," is currently the main thrust of White Dove's "Acupuncture National Outreach Project," a nationwide endeavor getting underway to help Americans learn more about the healing properties of acupuncture and oriental medicine. Tel: 800-234-3683; e-mail: whitedovebooks@yahoo.com; Web: www.whitedovepublishing.com.
Wysong: Wysong is an organization dedicated to enhancing the health of humans, the animals in their care, and the environment in which we all live. Throughout the world, the shortsighted and selfish inclination to exploit the Earth as a limitless raw material is steadily unraveling the delicate natural web, which is critical to healthful living. Pamphlets and Educational aides available. Tel: 989-631-0009; e-mail: davidd@wysong.net; Web: www.wysong.net.
If your company offers products or services to the acupuncture/Oriental medicine profession and you would like to be listed in "What Are My Choices?," please contact Acupuncture Today's marketing department at 1-800-324-7758 or marketing@mpamedia.com.
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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