Dr. Heather Noemi is a California-licensed acupuncturist and herbalist, trauma-informed care practitioner, and somatic coach. She holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from James Madison University and completed postgraduate studies at UC Berkeley and UCSF in neuropsychology before obtaining her Doctorate in Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine from Pacific College of Health & Science. Her San Francisco Bay Area practice, Marin Integrative Recovery (www.marinintegrative.com), specializes in the treatment of chronic and refractory pain and psycho-emotional disorders.
A research letter in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) provides early findings from the most recent (2022) survey on the use of complementary health approaches (CHA). The findings include data from the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), which conducts interviews both by phone and in-person. The CHA results have been published in 2002, 2012 and again in 2022.
When learning traditional East Asian medicine, we are taught the four pillars of diagnosis: inspection, auscultation and olfaction, inquiry, and palpation. When it comes to palpation, there is often a quick mention of feeling the acupuncture channels, and then the focus moves on to pulse diagnosis. Little to no time is spent palpating the channels – or the skin for that matter.
Topical analgesics (TAs) are effective. In fact, the American Geriatric Society recommends the use of topical agents for localized neuropathic and non-neuropathic pain as a front-line measure. The benefit of TAs is their high compliance, ease of use, direct application to the painful site, and limited systemic cross-reactions. The real challenge is choosing the appropriate topical for each patient given the myriad choices available.
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