Acupuncture For Your Headaches

In a recent issue of Anethesia and Analgesia, researchers from Duke University reviewed a total of thirty one studies in which acupuncture, sham acupuncture and medical therapy were utilized on adults who suffered from chronic tension type headaches and migraines.  The results of the review found that Acupuncture offered relief in improving headache intensity, frequency and response rate, to the patients 62% of the time, while medication (i.e. aspirin) was only effective 45% of the time.  This analysis offers great news for headache sufferers, and furthermore proves the efficacy of Acupuncture.

Source:  Anesthesia & Analgesia, December 2009 ,  Acupuncturetoday.com, January 2009 Vol. 11, Issue 01

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Military tries ‘battlefield’ acupuncture to ease pain

 

ANDREWS AIR FORCE BASE – Using ancient Chinese medical techniques, a small team of military doctors here has begun treating wounded troops suffering from severe or chronic pain with acupuncture.

The technique is proving so successful that the Air Force will begin teaching “battlefield acupuncture” early next year to physicians deploying to Iraq and Afghanistan, senior officials will announce tomorrow.

The initiative marks the first high-level endorsement of acupuncture by the traditionally conservative military medical community, officials said.

Source:  The Baltimore Sun, Dec. 11, 2008

This article was brought to my attention by a fellow student of mine and I hope you find it as interesting as I did!  This topic is just another example of how Acupuncture is gaining notoriety in the field of health.

To read the full article please follow the link below.

Military tries ‘battlefield’ acupuncture to ease pain

For more information on ‘battlefield’ acupuncture, here is a link to another article posted on Military.com back in March, which also talks about the institution of a limited form of acupuncture that can be used out in the field.

Battlefield Acupuncture Introduced

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OCOM’s Acupuncture Relief Project

The Acupuncture Relief Project is a Community Health organization set up to provide poverty stricken countries with free Acupuncture and health treatment.  This year a team of four arrived in Kathmandu, Nepal at the beginning of November to see what they could do.  They seem to be making a real impact over there and have been overwhelmed with all the positive feedback from the locals, who have in general never seen a health practitioner.

“After seven 10 hour days, our team of four has treated nearly 600 people. It has been a very exciting, challenging and exhausting week for all of us. Many of our patients have never seen a doctor in their entire life and every morning they flood into the clinic and sometimes wait up to six hours to be treated.”

Please check out their blog and see what they are up to.  If you feel so inclined you can also donate to the cause.  The blog will answer any questions you have about what they are doing, where they are, who they are treating and where your donation may go.  Please visit their blog here:

The Acupuncture Relief Project

This sort of organization has always been something I’ve wanted to be a part of, and I hope to just as soon as I finish school!  The crew will be there for a total of 6 weeks so be sure to check in on them during their stay!

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How To Make The Holidays Stress Free!

IT’S THANKSGIVING…. Have Fun & Relax!!!

It’s almost that time of year, the Holiday’s! The leaves have changed and fallen and the snow is just beginning to fall. If you are like me, you’ve been awaiting the holiday’s since, well, last holiday season. With Thanksgiving in just a few days and Christmas just around the corner, we can expect lots of eating, drinking and of course socializing to come with it!

The season is supposed to be a time for fun, relaxation, and for catching up with friends and family. It should be all good, but for most it can also be stressful. Organizing time to see everyone, putting together dinner’s and parties, fitting in all your social events into your work schedule and on top of it all trying to afford Christmas presents all while trying to keep relaxed and have fun yourself. It’s tough for everyone which is why my post for this Thanksgiving week is about Stress Relief. Hopefully, this will help you get through the holiday season stress free, and hopefully even have a little fun!!!

I put together a short list of stress relief options, but of course, ultimately it is what works for you, you may find that there is something you do that is not on this list but still gets you back to center and ready for whatever comes your way!

QiGong

This is one of the classes we take in school and I have to say I’m really liking it. There are a number of different techniques you can use, but it’s really proven useful keeping my head on straight with my new life in school! We go through a Body Cleansing routine, do some Liver cleansing and tonifying and then Thousand Hands Buddha practice.

Yoga

Yoga is also one of my favorite ways to relax. Of course there are a number of different types of Yoga and it really depends on which you prefer. There are very relaxing practices, as well as very rigorous, I suggest trying out a few different kinds and see which is the best fit for you.

Meditation

Meditation is new to me, it definitely comes with its difficulties, but the end result, even for a novice like me is really beneficial. Like anything there are tons of different techniques you can use to Meditate but here are just a few different options or ways of meditating:

  • Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR)

MBSR is essentially the Buddhist form of Zen Meditation repackaged.  Jon Kabat-Zinn brought it into the UMass Medical School as a means to help the students with stress reduction and from there it has become quite well known across the US. For a good insight on stress and the need for some form of stress reduction, please check out this youtube video.

Stress Relief with Jon Kabat-Zinn

  •           Breath Watching Conscious focus on the breath
  •           Empty Mind Meditation Focus on “being present”
  • Walking Meditation Using activity as meditation

  • Mantra Meditation Using a word or phrase during meditation

  • Concept Meditation Focusing on a concept as you meditate

Hopefully this post is helpful in some way or another!  With stress being such a problem in our society these days and such a major cause for disease I hope that this will at least get you thinking about finding a form of stress relief that works for you.In the future I will post more information about these different stress reducing techniques, so as always keep checking in!

Here’s to a Happy (and hopefully stress free) Thanksgiving!

 
 
 
 
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Healthcare and the State of our Economy

Healthcare and the State of our Economy

With the current status of our economy and the shift happening within our political structure, I thought it only appropriate to add in some information I found pertaining to the subject.  Change seems to be the theme these days and I think a lot of us are getting fed up with the current healthcare system and the influence the drug companies seem to have over us.

Here is a link to a response to an article printed in the New York Times on our current Healthcare system, the influence of drug companies and the growing attention towards alternative sources of healthcare, such as Acupuncture.  Really, I couldn’t have said it better myself which is why I’m sharing it with you.  Please check it out, and if anything just browse through it, I’m sure something will catch your eye.

This website of Dr. Mercola’s is one of my favorite sites on the web.  I usually find tons of helpful information from this guy for just about everything and if you haven’t already checked the site out I highly recommend it!  Here it is… Enjoy!

Will the Down Economy Herald the use of Natural Medicine?

I am also going to put a link to Dr. Mercola’s website in My Link’s under Health & Wellness so you can check it out in the future.

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