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There is a wave of wellness sweeping across America today, as people lay claim to their own health and well-being. Gone are the days when patients humbly went to a doctor and trusted that the physician had all of the answers for questions they dare not ask. Today, people are…

Returning veterans are being diagnosed with traumatic brain injury in alarming numbers secondary to post-traumatic stress disorder and chronic pain. The movie, “The Hurt Locker,” which received best picture of the year, helps to portray what our veterans are being exposed to during war time. It is easy to see…

One of the most important aspects about being a good practitioner/citizen/general person is to not believe everything you read or hear. It’s not so much being skeptical as questioning the source of your information, wondering about the agenda behind the information, and just generally checking up on the facts. And…

Our profession has grown because of the great efforts of those who trusted their instincts in the early days of acupuncture in America. In all my experience in business, healthcare, educational administration and various roles in our professional organizations, my instinct tells me our profession is at a tipping point.…

I have noticed that many of my colleagues rely only a little on their patients’ descriptions of their feelings, preferring to look for more obvious signs and symptoms. It is hardly surprising, considering this is how we were taught at acupuncture school. While it always is nice to have signs…

After a patient has been “needled” they might say, “I feel a tingle.” The acupuncturist likely will respond by saying, “It’s normal,” and then exit the treatment room. However, this is an opportunity for the acupuncturist to further their understanding of Oriental Medicine beyond the textbooks.

There is perhaps nothing in our work more frustrating than having to face the situation of a patient whose symptoms/issues seem to resist our best efforts at treatment. Patients come to us, often with the expectation we will make their symptoms disappear, entrusting us with the state of their bodies,…

I am a one-clown circus. Like most acupuncturists, I don’t have a receptionist; I am the receptionist. I am also the secretary, office manager, accountant, janitor, marketing department, computer expert, etc., in addition to my real job(s) - acupuncturist, herbalist, psychologist, counselor, fitness consultant, dietician and witch doctor. (Yes, some…

This edition of “Ask the Billing Expert” is an end-of-the-year housekeeping of several questions that came in this year, but did not warrant a full column on their own.

There was something wonderfully warm about this year’s “Five Element Acupuncture Symposium: Continuing the Journey,” and it wasn’t just the perfect California weather. I think what moved me was the sense of camaraderie that the group created almost immediately upon entering the room.

Milk thistle ( Silybum marianum ), especially as the concentrated extract containing a defined level of the silymarin complex of flavanolignans, is being increasingly prescribed by herbal clinicians around cancer chemotherapy. It is mainly being used to assist recovery after chemotherapy, for liver protection during chemotherapy and to ameliorate any…

On Feb. 12, 2010, the New Mexico Disaster Medical Assistance Team (NM-1 DMAT) was deployed to Haiti to close out a medical mission in Port-au-Prince at Gheskio University and Clinic. Our site was separated from a tent city inhabited by approximately 5,000 Haitians via barbed wire and the protection of…

Treating individuals as well as training medical professionals in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, was a phenomenal experience. As a volunteer with Acupuncturists Without Borders (AWB), I had the great privilege of traveling to Haiti twice. My first trip was in April 2010, three months after the earthquake; I went as a practitioner.…

Lynne

Doris-Owanda

Alan

Deb

The art of effective chronic pain relief is similar to peeling an onion. This is because the body tends to “unwind” trauma and pain in layers. Just doing one microcurrent or acupuncture technique is rarely as effective as performing a sequence of brief techniques that disperse blockage (resistance), balance body…

I am writing in response to Dr. Fratkin’s article ” Getting Off the Antibiotic Merry-Go-Round ” in the October issue of Acupuncture Today. While I thought the information in the article was generally good and important for acupuncturists to hear, I was surprised by some of the statements made. Dr.…

In Western medicine, there is a lab test called the blood sedimentation rate (BSR) that measures how quickly red blood cells settle in a test tube in one hour. The more cells that fall to the bottom, the higher the sed rate. When inflammation is present, certain proteins cause the…