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An acupuncturist is shocked when she is reprimanded by her state board of acupuncture for hugging a patient. Another practitioner loses his NCCAOM certification and state license for failure to file accurate insurance claims. Yet another is placed on probation for befriending a patient who mistook the friendship for more.…

An estimated 3.1 million Americans used acupuncture and Oriental medicine in 2007, a 50 percent increase since 2002, according to a study released by the federal government. The dramatic rise was reported in a report from the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM), which is part of the…

Could occupational medicine revolutionize the field of acupuncture and Oriental medicine and health care in general? The Academy of Oriental Medicine at Austin (AOMA) is involved in a joint initiative with Whole Foods Market (WFM) and Lerner Education to provide an avenue for acupuncturists wishing to get into the field…

The U.S. Air Force has started a first-of-its kind pilot program designed to train its active-duty physicians to provide battlefield acupuncture services, expanding health care services to personnel on the front lines in Iraq and Afghanistan. In its Winter 2008 newsletter, the Air Force Medical Corps announced: “The Air Force…

The majority of these columns have targeted the paradigm shift in societal attitudes about the well-documented “graying” of the enormous baby boomer demographic in the Western hemisphere, particularly in the United States. But this philosophical about-face, and its impact on acupuncture and those drawn to it, is arguably a worldwide…

I would like to put Western medicine into perspective. The training focuses on hospitalized patients, and the profession’s greatest successes lie in saving life and limb: fighting serious infection, severe trauma, and life-threatening deterioration of major organs. When a patient needs to be hospitalized, Western diagnostics, surgery and pharmaceutical medicine…

Calling for my attention, my front-office manager stated, “Mrs. Smith has cancelled her upcoming appointments because she said the treatment gave her a headache.” This is one of the most disheartening, frustrating scenarios any health care practitioner can experience. It is one that every practitioner has dealt with. However, the…

Cancer and heart disease were not major diseases in human history until the past 40 to 50 years. True, there are many factors that did not exist before this time, such as radiation, new chemicals and toxins. Now, a re-examination of a doctor’s work in the 1930s gives us a…

As practitioners, we have inherited a wonderful medical tradition from the East that, as Americans, we naturally seek to make our own. In our culture, we are rarely ready to accept without question the complete package of any practice. It is my goal in this article to ask a question…

For those of us in the healing arts, it is useful to take a step back from day-to-day practice and ask ourselves what “healing” is really all about. When a patient has a very positive, long-lasting response to your treatments, what really has taken place? Or if patients don’t get…

The new year brings opportunities to increase our impact upon the world and enhance our revenue generation. In this article, I will introduce one of these opportunities. A year ago, I was the Saturday evening keynote speaker at the Pacific Symposium, and I taught that corporate America was a desperately…

The theme of the annual American Public Health Association (APHA) conference was “Public Health Without Borders.” Held in San Diego Oct. 25-29, the meeting attracted more than 13,000 attendees from throughout the country and signaled the APHA’s desire and willingness to expand the paradigm of community and global health to…

It had been just over a year since my first submission to Dynamic Chiropractic (which I also write for) when I noticed a letter to the editor in DC from a chiropractor in the Netherlands. He seriously disputed the need for orthopedic testing in the assessment of the patient, suggesting…

As January 2009 makes its debut, it reminds us that another year has passed and many new challenges face the Oriental medicine profession in the United States during this coming year. One of the more important issues facing the profession is that of the Good Manufacturing Procedures (known as GMP)…

Acupuncture and Oriental medicine practitioners and students, as well as providers representing various other health care disciplines, flocked to San Diego’s Catamaran Resort Hotel to attend the Pacific College of Oriental Medicine (PCOM) Annual Symposium in November. The symposium, the 20th such event organized by the college, featured a wide…

When areas of Iowa and the Midwest experienced severe flooding in 2008, those of us at Acupuncturists Without Borders (AWB) were hearing stories like this: “Our city and community has been struck by tragedy and destruction. We each carry the dampness of the past week in our lungs and in…

If your patients happen to suffer from chronic headaches, they should know that they are not alone. Chronic headache affects approximately one-third of the global population. Furthermore, an estimated 10 million people in the United States visit general practitioners for chronic headache every year. Now, a group of researchers, writing…

Acupuncture and complementary and alternative medicine were front and center at the World Health Organization (WHO) Congress on Traditional Medicine, which also featured a Symposium on Manual Methods of Health Care organized by the World Federation of Chiropractic (WFC). The congress, held in Beijing Nov. 7-9, 2008, highlighted the need…

I was delighted to read Dr. Andrew Rader’s article about cell phones in the October issue of Acupuncture Today . As a licensed acupuncturist, massage therapist and feng shui practitioner, I also consider the client’s environment. I am concerned about the electromagnetic influences that can have a toll on the…

News In Brief titles: Schwarzenegger May Cut Acupuncture from Medi-Cal, CCAOM Backs Move to Entry-Level Doctorate, Oregon Acupuncture Associations Unify, PCOM ProvideS Care at Public Health Conference and Back to Community-Style Acupuncture.