The Irish Medical Times has published findings on the fact that acupuncture can help the 15-20% of the population who suffer with chronic headaches and migraines. Click here to read the article…
Posts Tagged ‘Acupuncture’
Evidence Mounts for Acupuncture Helping Migraine Sufferers
Friday, August 27th, 2010
Doing Nothing is Good for Your Brain
Wednesday, August 25th, 2010Many new studies are checking out the effects of our constant barrage of information and what it’s doing to our brains and bodies. I often notice that I’ll check email on my phone or read the New York Times in the tiny bits of time I have while waiting in line for a movie or at a restaurant before food arrives. Some research now points at the emerging fact that taking time out allows our brains to process information and aids our memories in recording and analyzing experience. Check out today’s New York Times article, reported from San Francisco, for more…
Acupuncture Covered in Wall Street Journal Article
Saturday, July 31st, 2010by Melinda Beck, for the Wall Street Journal
Acupuncture has long baffled medical experts and no wonder: It holds that an invisible life force called qi (pronounced chee) travels up and down the body in 14 meridians. Illness and pain are due to blockages and imbalances in qi. Inserting thin needles into the body at precise points can unblock the meridians, practitioners believe, and treat everything from arthritis and asthma to anxiety, acne and infertility.
As fanciful as that seems, acupuncture does have real effects on the human body, which scientists are documenting using high-tech tools. Neuroimaging studies show that it seems to calm areas of the brain that register pain and activate those involved in rest and recuperation. Doppler ultrasound shows that acupuncture increases blood flow in treated areas. Thermal imaging shows that it can make inflammation subside.
(to read the rest of the article, click here to go to the Wall Street Journal)
Neurolinguistic Programming in the Medical Consult (PDF)
Monday, June 21st, 2010The California Journal of Oriental Medicine just published an article I wrote on this subject. See attached for the full article… CJOM NLP Article
-Jason
New Study Shows Acupuncture Eases Pain by Triggering Release of Natural Painkiller
Monday, May 31st, 2010A study in Nature Neuroscience published just yesterday (May 30, 2010) shows one possible mechanism of pain relief through acupuncture: the release of adenosine. Adenosine is a very potent anti-inflammatory compound and most chronic pain is caused by inflammation.
For more on this new study from the University of Rochester, check out a general article on it in the UK’s Guardian newspaper by clicking here, or click here to read the study itself.
Doctors Regularly Prescribe Placebos
Thursday, April 29th, 2010As I so often do, I thought I’d repost an article I read that I thought you’d all find interesting. So funny how many times I’ve heard MDs (and others) say, “Oh, acupuncture is just a placebo treatment.” Whether or not it is, my clinical experience has taught me that doctors often have no idea how to treat something, and as this article points out, they very often do indeed prescribe placebos. According to a new study published in the British Medical Journal, U.S. doctors regularly give placebo treatments such as vitamins, sedatives or even antibiotics to patients, even though in many cases these doctors don’t expect such treatments to help the patient’s underlying disease. Read more by clicking here.
A Couple of Highly Recommended Reads
Sunday, April 4th, 2010I wish I had more time to read fiction. Instead, the time that I do have to read is generally taken with current topics in healthcare so that I can keep up with my patients’ needs.
One recent read was the poorly-titled but well-written “Anti-Cancer” by David Servan-Schreiber, MD, PhD.
A research doctor who got cancer himself, it’s an evidence-based approach to keeping oneself cancer-free, primarily through dietary advice, though it has much more to offer. It’s a quick read, has useful, actionable intelligence, and I highly recommend it to all.
Check out the author’s story below…
You can, of course, purchase it on Amazon by clicking here (no, I don’t get any kind of commission!).
While focused on food, Michael Pollan, a professor of Journalism at UC Berkeley, has been writing about where our food comes from, and what to eat, for years. His best sellers (much recommended) include “The Omnivore’s Dilemma,” and “In Defense of Food,” among other titles. In the end, his readers have often asked what foods they should be eating. In response, he has written a quick and easy to digest guide, “Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual.” Simple but profound. Some excerpts may be found in Pollan’s article in The Huffington Post.
If you, the reader, have any recommendations of your own, let us know by posting a reply below…
Chinese Herbs, Pesticides, and You
Tuesday, March 16th, 2010An excellent article by Andrew Ellis at Spring Wind herbs in Berkeley on some truisms, as well as many misconceptions, about pesticides and sulfur in Chinese herbs. While this article was intended for practitioners, I think it has some valuable information for everyone interested in Chinese herbal medicine who may be concerned about their source.
Click here to read the article (a pdf/Adobe Acrobat file).