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Abraham Flexner was a reformer of education, particularly in the area of medicine. He devoted much of his life to education, attempting to gain a better understanding of its place in society. It could be said that he changed the face of medical education in America with his 1910 report…

Hypertension is a relatively common condition that is in some ways associated with aging. But treating it using TCM, is in my opinion, a partnership rather than a series of treatments. The treatment plan does not only involve the practitioner, acupuncture, herbs, and other TCM therapies, it involves the behavior…

Here is a list of the top 10 money mistakes a practitioner can make that can have an effect on their overall business. Make a note of them and try to avoid these common pitfalls by learning how to make better choices when it comes to your business funds.

I don’t know about you, but I am feeling very stressed right now. There is too much going on ( yang ) and not enough quiet time ( yin ) in my life to compensate for the activity. I am stretching myself, filling my life with a bit too much…

Presumably you speak the same language as your patients do. Still, communicating about pain can be difficult. There’s more to it than finding out if the pain is sharp, dull, stabbing, throbbing, constant, coming and going, hot, cold, etc. There may be even more to it than asking whether or…

Recent research from the Netherlands suggested that coffee, nose blowing, and sex can potentially trigger strokes in people with untreated brain aneurysms. The findings, while a little nerve wracking—apparently, one in 15 people develop brain aneurysms at some point in their life—are far from definitive. Just a few months ago,…

I have written many times now about the importance of good, clear, complete documentation. No doubt it is a pain – it takes up time and energy we would all rather put toward patient care. But, there is really no choice – the standard of care and the new healthcare…

Is the regulation of acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine in Ontario, Canada a positive move for the profession? According to George Smitherman, the Minister of Health, “Regulating traditional Chinese medicine will help ensure that Ontarians are receiving safe, quality care from practitioners who have achieved a certain level of skill…

Open your local phone book and you’ll find that you have lots of competition from other acupuncturists and healers with various backgrounds and modalities, traditional doctors, and more. That’s the bad news. But the good news is that every acupuncturist is unique and offers something different. No matter how much…

The Chinese medical classics emphasize importance in understanding “transmission” within the disease process. It is not enough to view a condition in its present state alone; one must understand where it has come from and where it could potentially progress to next.

Albert Einstein defined insanity as “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” For the last 30 years, management of acute spinal cord injuries has usually included high dosages of the steroid methylprednisolone. Perhaps the rationale for this treatment was based more on the theory of…

Do you practice Integrative Medicine? If so, how? Some of you might be thinking that Integrative Medicine (IM) is intuitively obvious, while others may hesitate if pressed to provide a definition. Webster’s dictionary defines Integrative Medicine as “medicine that integrates the therapies of alternative medicine with those practiced by mainstream…

Here is the latest acupuncture news and happenings from around the world to help you stay “on point” with the profession. This month, there is exciting news about an exclusive visit from the “Father of Acupuncture,” as well as from acupuncture schools across the country. Expansions, promotions, events and more.

Each acupuncture point has a name, translated from classical Chinese calligraphy, which indicates the unique spiritual qualities of that point and the gift it is capable of delivering to the patient in need. In Classical Five-Element Acupuncture, points are mostly chosen for their spiritual connotation from the patient’s causative factor…

HEY YOU! GET YOUR HEAD OUT OF THE CLASSICS! Good, now I’ve caught your attention. Too many students and graduates of TCM herbal programs in the U.S. are married to the classical formulas and are completely ignoring clinical applications and developments that have been going on in China since the…

An RN friend of mine recently had a tough time trying to persuade her M.D. husband to go to the emergency room after he broke his arm. Surprising? Well yes, considering her husband formerly chaired a department at one of the nation’s top medical schools. Years ago, I remember catching…

A lot of acupuncturists were enthusiastic about the release of 9000 Needles , but perhaps none more than Atsuki Maeda. The documentary follows an American stroke victim to China, where he receives acupuncture from a team of doctors led by Shi Xue Min—Maeda’s teacher. After completing acupuncture school in Japan,…

I’ve had the privilege to be in practice for just over 15 years now. I love my profession, I enjoy what I do, and I look forward to caring for my patients every day. I find my practice to be challenging and exciting with new patients and new interesting cases…

Throughout the history of its development, Chinese medical practitioners have integrated practices from other cultures. In America, the integration of Chinese medicine into American culture was present on the East Coast, physician and chemist Franklin Bache, a great-grandson of Benjamin Franklin, translated and published Morand’s Memoir on Acupuncture (1825). By…

It’s easy to be deceived into thinking that we are getting all the nutrients we need. Never mind all the labels that say “fortified” with this and that, or the synthetic vitamins that make you think that 1,000 percent of an isolate is healthy. There are also many people, possibly…