Remarks on 2014 Granduation Ceremony

Remarks on 2014 Graduation Ceremony

From your high school English class, you may remember one of the most famous sentences in literature, from Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities: “It was the best of times. It was the worst of times.”

This is the best of times for the profession of acupuncture and Oriental medicine in the United States. I can prove that by the volume of published articles on Chinese medicine, and the ongoing media interest in acupuncture. Over the years, I have kept a record of reports in the news media about Chinese medicine, as well as noting published articles in professional journals of biomedicine and traditional Chinese medicine. In the last six or seven years, news stories and published studies, in English, about acupuncture and Chinese medicine have turned from a trickle of information into a roaring river.

In my journal for March, 2014, there are more than fifty entries for the month, when an English-language article appeared in some format and was accessible through the internet. Let me give you a sample of article titles:   

*March 2: US Navy psychiatrists use acupuncture

*March 3: From Scientific American “Can Acupuncture Reverse Killer Inflammation?”

 *March 4: From Health & Medicine “Traditional Chinese Herb to Treat Cancer”

 *March 10: Battlefield acupuncture fights pain and skepticism

 *March 13: Colorado University Hospital uses acupuncture as part of cancer treatment

 *March 14: Cost-Effective Beauty: Skip the Botox & Try the Acupuncture Facelift.

 *March 23: Kuwaiti princess learns acupuncture in Mumbai

 *March 24: Chinese Medicine Positively Impacted by the Affordable Care Act

 *March 29: Acupuncture as effective as drugs in treating pain

 Two of my favorite news stories were about an owl in Little Rock and an alligator in Brazil which were successfully treated with acupuncture.

Another source which proves to me that it is the best of times for acupuncture in Minnesota is Google. As a patient, how do you find an acupuncturist in your city? You Google it. Google is the universal tool for information searches. Now go to Google and look for acupuncture in St. Paul, Minneapolis, Woodbury, Bloomington, Little Canada, Chanhassen, White Bear Lake, Hopkins, Ham Lake, Stillwater, Apple Valley, Maple Grove, Roseville, Chaska, Maplewood. Did I say your city? If not, check it out on Google. The chances are that you will find an acupuncturist in your town. And the chances are good that the acupuncturist you find is an AAAOM graduate. 

Furthermore, our graduates are not just making a name for themselves in private practice! They are expanding the reach of acupuncture to public venues. Just in the last year, AAAOM graduate Megan Odell was employed by Abbott Northwestern Hospital, Jill Neukam was employed by Unity Hospital, and Travis Young was employed by Mayo Clinic. When Travis Young’s wife, Tanya, wrote me the news about Travis joining Mayo, she said “Dr. Gong, you will be proud,” and she was right. But I am not just proud of Travis and Megan and Jill – I am proud of all of you.

Now I can turn to the other side of the coin and say: This is the worst of times. But what I really mean is that this could be a dangerous time for acupuncture and Chinese medicine. Why do I say that? Because now that acupuncture is more familiar to the general public, and is going mainstream, a lot of people are trying to find ways to exploit different aspects of Chinese medicine. They want to take shortcuts to achieve therapeutic results, instead of taking the time to study and understand Chinese medicine at a deep level.

For example, look at the way physical therapists are encroaching on our profession. Almost 1400 years ago, in the Tang dynasty, Dr. Sun Simiao developed the practice of finding and needling tender points on the body for pain relief. Needling these Ashi points has been an integral part of TCM practice ever since. Recently, physical therapists in the United States have started calling this treatment method “dry needling.” By doing dry needling, a physical therapist can take one small but important item from acupuncture and build a practice on it. In another example, a psychologist may decide to prescribe the Chinese herbal formula Xiao Yao Wan to all of his depressed patients, and he can build a whole practice on that. I am not saying that stimulating ashi points or prescribing Xiao Yao Wan are bad things in themselves – they may be truly beneficial to many patients. But one of the most beautiful things about Chinese medicine is how complete and integrated its theory and practice are. What happens to TCM as a holistic medicine when someone can needle one point or prescribe one herb and call it Chinese medicine? Those of us who have put so much of our lives into learning this system of medicine must be ready to defend the practice of TCM as a complete system of medicine, and question those who want to divide it into little pieces out of greed or laziness.

I know that all of you will leave here and be successful practitioners – you have acquired the knowledge and skills to do that. But these times require another important quality from you: passion. You have had the passion to pursue your dreams and your education for four years at AAAOM. Now you must pour that passion into your practice. The future of Chinese medicine in this country depends on your effort, your innovation, your creativity, your ability to offer quality services to your patients.

America is the country of innovation. Practitioners in this country have expanded the applications of Chinese medicine in a number of exciting directions. Chinese medicine has treated infertility for thousands of years, but using acupuncture as successful adjunctive therapy for IVF treatments is an American specialty. A number of acupuncturists in this country are focusing on macular degeneration, so thousands of senior citizens can keep their eyesight longer. The application of motor points to sports injuries and other orthopedic conditions has become phenomenally popular. And cosmetic acupuncture has become a specialty for many acupuncture clinics.  

The members of the AAAOM class of 2014 are the next generation of innovators. You have put many years of hard work into your education, with the support of your family and friends. Now it is time for you to enter the next stage of your lives. You have the ability to take this three-thousand-year-old tradition and create it as a new profession every day. If you nourish your passion, you will realize your dreams. I am proud of you all, and I know you will succeed.