The Acupuncture Poll's question for November 2005 was:
Do you support the Federal Acupuncture Coverage Act of 2005?
Results:
These results are based upon 423 responses. As this is a voluntary, non-scientific survey, caution should be used in generalizing the results. Listed below are a sampling of responses to the poll, along with how those respondents voted. Some responses have been edited for brevity or clarity.
Yes: The introduction of coverage within the Federal Employee Health Benefits Plan, and even more importantly, Medicare, will open the door to what I feel is what will finally entrench acupuncture into the mainstream of modern medicine: the ability to work as paid staff members of hospitals throughout the country. Coming from a state that currently doesn't have third-party benefits, this would also open that elusive (though sometimes double-sided) door.
Yes: The need for diversification of options for new and current practitioners is vital to our continued existence. This bill will force all states to recognize us from an insurance standpoint, something that will be very costly to tackle on a state-by-state basis.
To vote in the current Acupuncture Poll, or to review comments and responses to previous poll questions, visit acupuncturetoday.com/acupuncturepoll.
Mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS) affects more than 15% of the U.S. population but evades most practitioners’ radar. Just five years ago, it wasn’t even on my radar, despite already having 20 years of experience as a clinician at that time. The more I dug (similar to leaky gut and post-COVID syndrome), the more I found my patients were suffering from this disorder.
Research supports the effectiveness of selecting the distal acupuncture points for the treatment of microtrauma and for relieving pain, particularly in cases of chronic shoulder pain. But to make the treatment results long-lasting, clinical experience and research suggest that instead of treating the most painful structure first, we identify the inhibited driver, restore reliable recruitment, confirm it with immediate re-testing, and only then address the painful area as a branch of a deeper pattern.
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The motivation behind our practice of medicine is important, impacting not just our experience but also the experiences of those we treat. It is perhaps for this reason that the aspiration to help not just some, but all beings heal, has historically been an important part of the medical tradition. To explain this, we need to consider how medicine is interwoven with other social domains.