American Academy of Medical Acupuncture Hosts Annual Symposium
The American Academy of Medical Acupuncture (AAMA) will be holding its 20th annual symposium on April 10-13, 2008 at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel in Washington, D.C. The conference is geared toward both the acupuncturist and the physician (MDs and DOs) wishing to learn more about acupuncture.
There will be four pre-symposium workshops from which to choose. "Acupuncture in Psychosomatics and Psychiatry," by Dr. Thomas Ots, will discuss integrated Western and Oriental techniques for psychiatric treatment. "Geriatrics and Traditional Chinese Medicine" by Francisco Lozano, MD, will look at that all-important elderly population as it relates to acupuncture. "HMI Tune-Up," taught by representatives from the Helms Medical Institute in Berkeley, Calif., will demonstrate how to treat pain using acupuncture techniques. "Auricular Diagnosis and Treatment on the Ear Lobe (head and face)," taught by Dr. Li Chun Huang, will show how to use the ear to diagnose and treat many common medical conditions.
The regular sessions will include workshops on "Long Needle Techniques and Point Injection Therapy," by Francisco Lozano, MD; "CraigPENS Technique: Practical Applications," by William Craig, MD; "Adaption, Allostasis and Five Element Acupuncture," by Charles Moss, MD; "Update of Research on Acupuncture Treatment for Osteoarthritis and Related Disorders," by Brian Berman, MD; and "What is the Future for Acupuncture Research," by Richard Hammerschlag, PhD.
In addition, there will be poster sessions and a research competition. Finally, on Sunday, April 13, from 1-5 p.m., there will be a Board Certification Examination offered by the American Board of Medical Acupuncture. This is only available to those who have applied for board certification and have been found "board eligible."
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In Memorium: Debra K. Friedman
Debra K. Friedman, PhD, ND, CA, Dipl.Ac. of Madison, Wisc., age 56, passed away after a short illness on Dec. 28, 2007. Debra graduated from Northwestern University in 1973. She had been an acupuncturist for more than 20 years and a strong advocate for alternative medicine. She helped found the Wisconsin Society of Certified Acupuncturists (WISCA) and was president and the driving force behind the organization for many years.
Debra was also very active in the acupuncture and Oriental medical community and worked very hard to educate legislators in the state of Wisconsin about the profession. Debra was active in many associations and held credentials on a national and international level.
She was a member of the American Association of Oriental Medicine, the National Acupuncture Alliance, the American Naturopathic Medical Association, the International Federation of Practitioners of Natural Therapeutics, the National Sports Acupuncture Association, the National Acupuncture Detoxification Association and the Auriculotherapy Certification Institute.
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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