It is amazing to see the changes that are occurring in the acupuncture profession. Let's look at some of the news and events that have contributed to this growth and awareness. Americans are more aware of the safety and effectiveness of acupuncture and Oriental medicine. While this is happening with individual practitioners and their patients, the profession continues to work with the United States Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor and Statistics to establish acupuncture as an independent and emerging profession in the United Sates. NCCAOM has been leading and steering this endeavor and they are in contact with the committee and are monitoring the process regularly.
Thanks to the 97 alumni and doctoral students and clinic interns from Emperor's College who volunteered to treat the athletes from 170 countries at the Special Olympics this past summer. This was an outstanding event and recognition for this medicine (See "Oriental Medicine on the World Stage" Acupuncture Today, October 2015).
The National Center for Complimentary Alternative Medicine, under the National Institute of Health, has changed its name to the National Center for Complimentary Integrated Medicine. This indicates that acupuncture is becoming accepted into mainstream medicine. There is a new national organization, The Academy of Integrated Health and Medicine (www.aihm.org). This group has chosen to include acupuncturists. Their annual convention was held in San Diego at the end of October.
Acupuncture is now licensed, registered or certified in 45 states. Congratulations to the state of North Dakota on their new law. A big thank you goes to the acupuncturists who worked long and hard to gain this achievement.
Acupuncture is working its way into numerous hospitals in the United States. The Cleveland Clinic in Ohio is continuing to only prescribe custom herb formulas. Galina Roofner, one of the acupuncturists at the Cleveland Clinic gave a very detailed and clear presentation on how to get into a hospital and what it takes to have a successful hospital-based practice at the Florida State Oriental Medicine Association meeting.
The graduating students from The New England School of Acupuncture planned and organized very effectively an awards event the afternoon before their commencement. Families and friends, along with faculty and staff from NESA and the new affiliate Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, attended the festivities. It was a rewarding experience to see the students step into leadership roles and work together for the success of the event. I was very honored to be their commencement speaker and to meet the administration of MCPHS. Susan Gorman, the Executive Director of NESA played a large role in this newly formed alliance.
The International Standards Organization Technical Committee 249 has increased its membership. Angela Tu will become a new member of this committee. The Council of Colleges of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine and its member schools are going to be contributing to the information in Acupuncture Today.
The International Classification of Traditional Medicine -11 code set are entering the peer review and field trial stage. Both schools and individuals in the U.S. are working on this project. It is progressing toward completion.
COMRE is beginning its second campaign to raise another $300,000 for the completion of the ICTM-11 project. Please help by contributing. Yes, small donations are very welcome. We can do this together. Your donation is a tax deduction.
The Memorial Hospital System in Miami has just hired an acupuncturist to open their Integrated Health Department. Congratulations goes to Amy Sear. She has worked long and diligently on this project and hard work and consistency have paid off.
The American College of Traditional Chines Medicine has joined with CIIS in San Francisco. The North Carolina Board of Acupuncture has sued the North Carolina Board of Physical Therapy. This is the first suit of this kind within this profession. They need our united support. Good luck in using the numerous ICD-10 codes that began in October. The Acupuncture NOW Foundation has been formed and is headed by Matthew Bauer. Their focus is on research and public relations for this profession.
I'm sure you've heard of the saying, "you've come a long way baby." This is certainly true in the acupuncture profession.
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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