In this draft, the Task Force very strongly recommends a multidisciplinary approach to pain management, including Complementary and Integrative Health, behavioral health/psychological interventions, as well as restorative movement therapies. Acupuncture is specifically named (see section 2.6). This document more clearly and positively includes many types of integrative health providers than any report previously put forth. However, many who are not supportive of integrative approaches are submitting comments arguing for a continued reliance on pharmacological approaches to pain.
This report represents a quantum leap in HHS pain policy, and as an acupuncturist, it is imperative that you, and as many of us in the Complementary and Integrative Health community, respond positively to the call for public comment, due by April 1, 2019.
In your comment please refer to docket number: HHS-OS-2018-0027. Also, identify yourself as a patient, clinician, or representative of an organization with your name and title. You may also send an email to your patients asking them to write a short note of support as well.
Our profession needs to be represented in future clinical practice guidelines, government policy documents, and reports such as this. Once a report such as this is accepted, there will be future opportunities to build on the progress.
Think of your most difficult patient – the one you try to motivate and work so hard with to develop a realistic treatment plan with achievable and measurable goals. Week after week, you see this patient struggle, sinking deeper into hopelessness as their health and quality of life continue to worsen. What if there was something else you could do that could change their outlook and their life? The solution is as simple as an automated program.
To paraphrase the Tao de Jing; a bowl is useful because of the empty space. Recent anatomical research uncovered evidence for previously undescribed large-scale pathways that span organs, blood vessels and other connective tissue. These pathways are defined by what is known as the interstitial space between cells. The newer research provides evidence that these interstitial spaces actually make very large-scale networks between different types of tissue.
As a practitioner, if you're wondering why your social media efforts aren't working the way you had hoped, or if you're not using social media at all, use this article to get your social media marketing strategies (back) on track.
