As 2006 draws to a close, I want to take this opportunity to wish you, your families, staff and patients the merriest of holidays and blessingsfor a safe, healthy and prosperous beginning of 2007. I extend my heartfelt thanks to everyone who has contributed to the issues of Acupuncture Today during the past year as well as in previous years; including those who have contributed articles and news items, as well as the companies who have supported each and every issue. I hope these past 12 months have been filled with adventures, peace and harmony, as well as those hurdles that make life more interesting and challenging.
My congratulations go to the American Association of Oriental Medicine (AAOM) for its successful conference held at the end of October. The venue in Phoenix was both beautiful and functional. The numerous casitas were located on a beautiful golf course. I saw several acupuncture practitioners taking swings at those small white balls. Some swam, while others rested and enjoyed renewing friendships. There were numerous excellent speakers, as well as a panel on nomenclature and terminology. Many esteemed experts gathered to discuss this topic. Members of the panel included Miki Shima, Jeannie Kang, Jake Fratkin, Bob Felt, Bob Flaws, Dan Bensky and Marnae Ergil, and Xiaotian Shen and Zev Rosenberg.
This conference included a dinner dance and a powwow with drumming and great exhibitors. All of these events were fun and interesting. Congratulations go to Neal Miller, from Southern California, who was honored as the Acupuncturist of the Year. Thanks go to Neal for all he has done for this profession through the years. The student organization was launched under the auspices of the AAOM, with Cynthia O'Donnell as the liaison from the board of directors to the newly formed group. Koala Bear Moore, from Five Branches Institute in Santa Cruz, and Rhonda Wilber of Midwest College, worked long hours to give this group its strong footing. They have recruited more than 350 new student members for the AAOM. This certainly speaks well for the interest and enthusiasm of the students who are studying acupuncture and Oriental medicine. Both Koala and Rhonda were honored as Students of the Year and have been selected as co-presidents by the student group for 2007.
This article seems to be covering several weeks of time. As I continue to write this editorial, I find myself sitting in a meeting about the development of the international standards of acupuncture point locations. The group discussing and reaching consensus represent the countries of the Pacific Rim. Some of the representatives from these countries have met on nine previous occasions to discuss each acupuncture point, its specific part, region and area and aspect relation to location on the body. These were lengthy discussions regarding the order in which to define the location. As I was sitting and listening to the discussion, I came to the realization that history was in the making for the profession of traditional medicine. These discussions were culminating thousands of years of history. These countries have reached consensus and are reviewing and recording their decisions. These delegates have worked many long and painstaking hours to create and complete this process. The end product will have international results, in that it will influence research, curriculums and patient records.
As this year comes to a close, I pause to reflect on the many people and events that have contributed to the well-being and prosperity we experience in this country. This special time of year is for appreciating family, friends, patients and the bountiful harvest. Take a few quiet minutes and reflect on all of the blessings we have as people who live in a country that allows the freedom of choice. These blessings include health care, places to live and freedom to do what we want with our lives. Remember to appreciate your patients and what they do for your office.
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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