Integrating Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine with Western Medicine
Acupuncture and allopathic (western) medicine can and should be integrated. In fact there are many countries that have acupuncture fully implemented into their medical system; China, Japan, and the Netherlands to name a few. This is starting to happen here in the US as well. For example, acupuncturists are now working within Kaiser Permanente hospitals in Northern California and Oregon. Licensed Acupuncturist, Daniel Haun routinely receives referrals, at his office in Oceanside, CA from Kaiser's pain management department. Within this group, he sees many patients whom experience chronic pain, ranging from carpal tunnel syndrome, sciatica, neck pain and migraines, etc. In addition, Anne Bailey, L.Ac. also practices at a fully integrated Indian Health Council Clinic, in North San Diego County. In her practice she sees a variety of different presentations such as diabetic peripheral neuropathies, repetitive movement syndromes, and gynecological issues and much more.
Unfortunately, acupuncture here in the states is only recognized for its ability to effectively treat pain and nausea. This is largely due to the NIH Consensus, written in 1997. “.. promising results have emerged, for example, showing efficacy of acupuncture in adult postoperative and chemotherapy nausea and vomiting and in postoperative dental pain. There are other situations such as addiction, stroke rehabilitation, headache, menstrual cramps, tennis elbow, fibromyalgia, myofascial pain, osteoarthritis, low back pain, carpal tunnel syndrome, and asthma, in which acupuncture may be useful as an adjunct treatment or an acceptable alternative or be included in a comprehensive management program. Further research is likely to uncover additional areas where acupuncture interventions will be useful.”
Acupuncture is however making inroads into mainstream medicine. Many worldwide studies have shown the efficacies of acupuncture for a variety of applications:
. One German study group has shown the clinical efficacy and cost-effectiveness of acupuncture in patients with dysmenorrhoea. "Am. Journal Obstetrics and Gynecology," 2008 Feb;198(2):166.el-8)
Another study, performed by Malaysian researchers, showed that acupuncture benefits prostate pain. (Acupuncture versus Sham Acupuncture for Chronic Prostatitis / Chronic Pelvic Pain. "Am J Med." 2008:121(1):79.el-7).
A meta analysis, by Dutch and American researchers analyzed results of 7 clinical trials in which acupuncture was used to support embryo transfer during IVF. (“Effects of acupuncture on rates of pregnancy and live birth among women undergoing in vitro fertilization: systemic review and meta analysis.” “BMJ.” 2008 Mar 8:336(7643):545-9.
Japanese researchers have investigated the effect of acupuncture on the human immune system. Their observations indicate that acupuncture may regulate the immune system and promote the activities of humoral and cellular immunity as well as NK cell activity. (“Acupuncture Regulates Leukocyte Subpopulations in Human Peripheral Blood. Evidenced Based Complementary Alternative Med.” 2007, Dec 4(4):447-453).
• Anne Bailey, L.Ac, of the Indian Health Council, in conjunction with UCSD, has written a grant proposal through NIH & NARCH, that will demonstrate the efficacy of acupuncture's ability to increase blood circulation in the legs of patients whom have Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy They will be using Laser Doppler to measure the blood flow before and after an acupuncture treatment.
These are just a few examples (there are many more) of recent studies that have shown that acupuncture is an evidence based medicine and that it has its rightful place alongside western medicine. More information on acupuncture research can be found on the PubMed database: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez.
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