Chinese Medicine in Hong Kong

How Chinese medicine could fix slumped spines of Hong Kong’s smartphone generation and put them ahead of the curve

Chinese medicine practitioner Lam Chung explains tradition treatments for scoliosis. Photo: SCMP Pictures

Traditional Chinese medicine could hold the key to treating an increasing number of children and teenagers with abnormally curved spines in a city increasingly populated by “smartphone zombies”, according to practitioners.

The condition of a 14-year-old girl diagnosed with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS), an abnormal curvature of the spine, had significantly improved after two months of a combined treatment of tui na – a type of Chinese massage therapy – acupuncture and daily exercise routines.

Angel Man’s spine, which was curved sideways in an S-shape at an angle of 31 degrees, was corrected to 18 degrees – a condition that only requires regular observation.

Depending on the severity of the curve, scoliosis is conventionally treated by wearing back braces or surgery. Curves over 45 degrees are considered serious and would be recommended surgery.

However, the two traditional methods can only prevent the spine curvature from worsening, and do not correct or straighten the spine completely.

Lam Chung, a Chinese medicine practitioner specialising in AIS, has developed a comprehensive treatment for youngsters living with the condition.

Chinese Medicinal Herbs Provide Niche Market for US Farmers

Chinese Medicinal Herbs Provide Niche Market for US Farmers

Expanding interest in traditional Chinese medicine in the United States is fostering a potentially lucrative new niche market for farmers who plant the varieties of herbs, flowers and trees sought by practitioners.

While almost all practitioners still rely on imports from China, dwindling wild stands there, as well as quality and safety concerns, could drive up demand for herbs grown in the U.S. Several states have set up "growing groups" to help farmers establish trial stands of the most popular plants.

"As a farmer, I love the idea of growing something no one else is growing, something that's good for people," said Rebekah Rice of Delmar, near Albany, who is among 30 members of a New York growing group. "This project is seriously fascinating."

Jean Giblette, a researcher who has established New York's group, said it could also be a moneymaker. She estimates the market for domestically grown medicinal plants to be $200 million to $300 million a year.

Traditional Chinese medicine is gaining mainstream acceptance in the U.S. There are 30,000 licensed practitioners across the country — 46 states issue licenses, often requiring a master's degree and continuing education credits. In 2014, the Cleveland Clinic opened one of the first hospital-based Chinese herbal therapy clinics in the country.

Jamie Starkey, a licensed practitioner of acupuncture and traditional Chinese medicine at the Cleveland Clinic's Center for Integrative Medicine, said quality, authenticity and purity are important concerns with herbal products.

"If growers in the U.S. can produce a highest-quality product that is identical to species from China, without contamination from heavy metals or pesticides, I think it's a great opportunity for farmers," Starkey said.

More than 300 plants are commonly used in traditional Chinese medicine. Giblette and Peg Schafer, an herb grower in Petaluma, California, compiled a list of marketable species for U.S. farmers. They include Angelica dahurica, a flowering perennial whose root is used to relieve pain and inflammation; Aster tataricus, a relative of garden asters said to have anti-bacterial properties; Mentha haplocalyx, a mint used for stomach ailments; and Salvia miltiorrhiza, a type of sage whose roots are used for treatment of cardiovascular diseases.

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Acupuncture Alleviates Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Acupuncture Alleviates Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS)

Acupuncture alleviates chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). Research published in the Guangxi Medical Journal finds acupuncture effective for the relief of fatigue, depression, and other symptoms of CFS. Chronic fatigue syndrome is characterized by severe fatigue that does not improve with rest. Additional signs and symptoms include memory loss, cognitive impairment, sore throat, lymph node swelling, musculoskeletal pain, and headaches. Etiologies may include viral infections, stress, and other factors. The clinical trial reveals that a special type of acupuncture has a high total effective rate and a significant total recovery rate for patients with CFS.
Conventional acupuncture was compared with Qihuan acupuncture. The total effective rate and total recovery rate were significant in both groups. Although both forms were effective, Qihuan acupuncture produced a higher percentage of positive patient outcomes as part of the total effective rate. Conventional acupuncture produced an 80.85% total effective rate and Qihuan acupuncture produced a 95.83% total effective rate.

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Houston quarterback Brian Hoyer Use Acupuncture for Concussion

Hoyer uses acupuncture during recovery from concussion

Houston quarterback Brian Hoyer has turned to acupuncture after suffering his second concussion in a month.

Hoyer returned to practice on a limited basis on Wednesday, but remains in the league's protocol after suffering a concussion on Dec. 13 and is questionable for Sunday's game against Tennessee. Speaking to the media for the first time since then, he said he started seeing an acupuncturist after his first concussion on Nov. 16 and that he's continued to see the specialist since the second one.

He believes it's helped his recovery.

"I think so," he said. "I'm a believer in doing anything that you think works. I've done a lot of stuff. That's one of the things I've done."

Hoyer became a fan of acupuncture after his wife, Lauren, had a session when she was pregnant with their son Garrett, now 3. When she was 36 weeks pregnant the couple learned that the baby was breech. Doctors told her there was "no way this baby's flipping" and to prepare for a cesarean delivery.

"My wife didn't want to have a C-section so she looked up alternative options and acupuncture happened to be one of them," Hoyer said. "We went up to this woman doctor. She put the needles in. They lit some roots and burned it. They had like yoga music on. I literally watched my wife's stomach shift."

The couple visited her doctor the next day and learned that the baby had moved into the head-down position needed for a natural birth, he said.

"Once I saw that, I believed acupuncture can do anything," Hoyer said.

The 30-year-old Hoyer said he's visited the acupuncturist three or four times since his first concussion and talked about where they place the needles.

"Everywhere," he said. "With acupuncture it's all about the chi and stuff like that ... when I go in, you don't really feel it so I don't really necessarily know. A lot of times when I leave I feel really good. So I believe in it."

He has also spent time in a hyperbaric chamber and used an app called BrainHQ, which the company says is a brain training system built and tested by neuroscientists, to aid in his recovery.

"So basically anything I deem through the research that can help, that's what I've been trying to do," Hoyer said.

Hoyer admitted that he was worried about receiving two concussions so close together, but said he is confident that the team and the doctors he is working with will do what's best for his health.

"With any concussion you're going to be concerned so for me I don't take it lightly, I do a lot of research," he said. "I talk to a lot of people who are highly respected in the area. I talk to people that I trust who have gone through the situation and then you make the best educated decision. And like I said for me the way I feel, I feel good and now the doctors are basically evaluating that and ... I respect their opinion and the process."

Coach Bill O'Brien didn't provide many details when asked if the team expects backup Brandon Weeden to play on Sunday.

"As we go through the week we'll determine that, some of that has to do with Brian Hoyer and his ability to be cleared," O'Brien said. "We're still working through all those things."

Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/news/article51360685.html#storylink=cpy

Acupuncture 'safe and effective' for chronic pain in children

Acupuncture 'safe and effective' for chronic pain in children

Treating children with chronic pain is challenging; there is limited evidence on the efficacy of pain-relieving therapies among this population. But according to new research, acupuncture may be a safe and effective treatment strategy.

Study leader Angela Johnson, practitioner of Chinese medicine at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, IL, and colleagues publish their findings in the journal Alternative and Complementary Therapies.

Chronic pain is defined as any pain that lasts at least 12 weeks. It is estimated that around 20-35% of children and teenagers across the globe have chronic pain.

Treating adults with chronic pain has its difficulties, but treating children with the condition is even more challenging; there is little evidence on effective drug therapies for chronic pain in children, and health professionals are often wary of providing certain treatments to youngsters because of their vulnerability during growth and the fear of possible long-term health implications.

"Effective treatment of pain can be particularly difficult because it's subjective; but with children, it is increasingly difficult because a child may not be able to communicate effectively depending on the age and accurate recognition of pain," adds Johnson.

As such, the search is on to identify safe and effective therapies for chronic pain in children, and with this latest study, Johnson and her team may have found one: acupuncture.

Acupuncture is a practice used in traditional Chinese medicine, which involves stimulating certain pressure points on the body, most commonly with the insertion of thin needles through the skin.

While acupuncture is considered an effective treatment for chronic pain in adults, there is little information on whether the procedure may be an effective form of pain relief for children.

"This study looked at the effect of acupuncture in children directly, rather than examining data collected from adults," says Johnson. "This focus is especially important, since children experience pain in different ways than adults."

Johnson and colleagues enrolled 55 children and adolescents aged 7-20 years to their study, all of whom had chronic pain conditions.

Each participant attended eight sessions in which they received an individually tailored acupuncture treatment, with each treatment lasting around 30 minutes. 

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My Objection

My Objection

As a long time member of professional acupuncture community, I wish to register my opposition to the practice of dry needling by physical therapists.

First, I believe it will ultimately have a detrimental effect on public health and safety. Second, it contributes to a fundamental misunderstanding of acupuncture on the part of the general public. Physical therapists insert acupuncture needles into painful spots on a patient’s body -- period. Professional acupuncturists learn hundreds of recognized acupuncture points and their underlining body structures; they are thoroughly trained in clean needling technique and blood-borne pathogens; and they complete a lengthy internship, performing acupuncture treatment under close supervision.

There is simply no comparison between the fifty hours of training a physical therapist receives in needle insertion and the thousands of hours required to truly internalize and manifest the theory and practice of acupuncture. Putting dry needling by physical therapists on the same footing with the health care services performed by licensed acupuncturists will only serve to confuse the public about the real nature and therapeutic effects of acupuncture.

Some people see this as a turf war between acupuncturists and physical therapists. I have nothing against physical therapists. And it is in fact a tribute to the effectiveness of acupuncture therapy that they are trying to appropriate it. My objection is that they are appropriating acupuncture at a very superficial level: it both undercuts and trivializes the power and total therapeutic value of a comprehensive, complex medical system.

Doctors honored for neuro-acupuncture 'Miracles'

Doctors honored for neuro-acupuncture 'Miracles'

By Robin Martin
The New Mexican

The room was filled with people suffering from neurological problems.

A celebrated singer had undergone heart and brain surgery and suffered a debilitating stroke. A teenager had cerebral palsy since she was a baby. A Las Cruces attorney was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis two decades ago. A former gymnast was paralyzed in a bicycle accident.

An Albuquerque farrier suffered intense pain after a horse landed on top of him. A baby was born with a severe chromosomal abnormality. A Corrales police officer lost the use of his legs when he was severely injured in line of duty.

The mood should have been somber. Instead, it was upbeat and full of hope.

The group — including many people from out of state — had gathered to honor doctors Jason and Linda Hao, and view a short film about their acupuncture technique that treats neurological disorders.

It was a full house at the Jean Cocteau Cinema on the Friday before Thanksgiving when invited patients and their families, acupuncture students and friends of the Haos met to view a 15-minute film, Modern Day Miracles — The curious art of neuro-acupuncture.

The film was made by Mark Medoff, a professor at New Mexico State University who won a Tony award for his Broadway play, Children of a Lesser God. In 1986, the play was made into a successful movie, and Medoff’s screenplay was nominated for an Academy Award.

Medoff’s short piece on the Haos’ neuro-acupuncture practice highlights 10 of their patients, most of whom were present at the showing. It explains how the doctors treat various neurological disorders by placing needles in their patients’ scalps.

Their technique is different from traditional acupuncture, in which doctors temporarily place a thin needle into a specific point on the body, usually far away from where the pain lies. In neuro-acupuncture, doctors needle areas of the scalp corresponding to parts of the brain damaged by stroke, trauma or disease.

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