Support for Acupuncture to Reduce Nausea
Updated clinical guidelines from the Society for Integrative Oncology (SIO) recommend acupressure and acupuncture for reducing chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting in patients with breast cancer. The society suggests these two modalities as adjunctive therapy with drugs. The guidelines also indicate that acupuncture can be considered for reducing anxiety, mood disturbances, hot flashes, pain, and fatigue. Heather Greenlee, ND, PhD, assistant professor of Epidemiology at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health in New York, and past president of the SIO, led the systematic evaluation of peer-reviewed randomized clinical trials. The guidelines, along with a review of other integrative therapies, were published in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.3322/caac.21397/full
Acupuncture Found to Benefit Patients with Allergy
The addition of acupuncture to routine care in patients with allergic asthma was associated with increased health-related and disease-specific quality of life (QoL), compared to routine care alone, according to a study in The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine. Brinkhaus Benno, MD, at Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin in Germany, and colleagues, conducted a randomized controlled trial involving 1445 patients with allergic asthma. The researchers found that adding acupuncture to the plan of care led to improvements in both QoL and physical and mental health for patients who received acupuncture. The findings held from the initial 3 months through a 6-month follow-up. The researchers concluded that acupuncture, as an adjunct to conventional care, led to superior outcomes and that acupuncture should be considered as a viable option for treating these patients. http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/full/10.1089/acm.2016.0357
Mass General Hospital Incorporates Acupuncture in Cancer Care Plan
Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston is using acupuncture to reduce pain and chemotherapy-associated nausea in the hospital's Katherine A. Gallagher Integrative Therapies Program in an outpatient clinic or group setting. Patients can schedule acupuncture treatments around other therapies and should be advised to plan to stay ∼45 minutes. The center recommends that patients receive two acupuncture treatments per week. www.bostonmagazine.com/sponsor-content/mass-general-using-an-ancient-therapy-to-complement-modern-cancer-treatment/
FDA Urges Doctors to Learn About Acupuncture for Pain Management
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has issued an education blueprint for healthcare providers involved in the management or support of patients in pain. The document includes a recommendation that healthcare providers become knowledgeable about complementary therapies, including acupuncture, and when such therapies should be used as a part of a multidisciplinary approach to pain management. The agency is accepting comments on the guidance through July 10, 2017. www.fda.gov/downloads/Drugs/NewsEvents/UCM557071.pdf
Systems Connection in Acupuncture and Medicine Proposed
Helene Langevin, MD, at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston, and Rosa Schnyer, DAOM, LAc, at the University of Texas at Austin, propose in a commentary in The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine that elements of classical acupuncture “are related to important 21st century advances in physiology and medicine, including systems biology, cross-system integration, matrix biology and mechanotherapeutics.” The authors suggest that “Eastern and Western Medicine have the potential to “cross-pollinate each other” and urge researchers to join together to advance the field. http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/full/10.1089/acm.2017.0028
Fraser Institute Releases Report on Complementary Medicine Use
The Fraser Institute in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, released a report “Complementary and Alternative Medicine: Use and Public Attitudes, 1997, 2006 and 2016,” finding that more Canadians are using complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) therapies, including acupuncture. The organization surveyed 2000 people and learned that 22% had been treated with acupuncture. Acupuncture was among the most rapidly expanding therapies between 1997 and 2016. More than half of Canadians, 56%, had tried at least one CAM therapy in the year preceding the survey, up from 50% in 1997. Canadians spent ∼ $8.8 billion on CAM in 2015–2016, up from $6.3 billion in 1996–1997. www.fraserinstitute.org/studies/complementary-and-alternative-medicine-use-and-public-attitudes-1997-2006-and-2016
Attorney General of New Jersey Offers Opinion on Dry Needling
Christopher Porrino, attorney general of New Jersey, issued an opinion that “under the current statute, physical therapists are not authorized to engage in dry needling or intramuscular stimulation.” The State Board of Physical Therapy Examiners and the New Jersey Acupuncture Examining Board have long disagreed on the matter, which first arose in 2006, according to the New Jersey Association of Acupuncture & Oriental Medicine (NJAAOM), which has fought for clarification on the matter. That led to the attorney general's ruling. “The opinion rendered by the New Jersey Attorney General is decisive and unambiguous, and ensures that no other professional board uses the same tactic of negative logic to expand their scope of practice,” said Jason Sargis, president of the NJAAOM. “We have waited a long time for this, and it is a victory not only for acupuncturists in New Jersey, but those practicing nationwide.” www.njaaom.net/resources/Documents/Dry%20Needling%20opinion%20-%20NJ%20AG%202.9.17.pdf
Wyoming Passes Bill to Regulate Acupuncture
Wyoming Governor Matt Mead (R-WY) has signed HB 165 into law. It will regulate acupuncture in the state. The Wyoming Acupuncture Society supported the legislation, wanting to ensure that anyone receiving acupuncture treatments was getting the therapy from a properly trained acupuncture professional who had not lost a license in another state. The new law will create a Board of Acupuncture to approve license applications and create standards. About 30 acupuncturists practice in Wyoming. The society hopes this might lead to insurance coverage for acupuncture and more business for those practicing in the state. www.wyoas.org/index.html
Acupuncture Effective for Treating Tinnitus
Bong Hyun Kim, at Kyung Hee University in the Republic of Korea, and colleagues, reported in BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine that systemic manual acupuncture, periauricular electroacupuncture (EA), and distal EA had some effects on tinnitus, while systemic manual acupuncture and distal EA had some effects on scores in visual analogue scales. This randomized, parallel, open-labeled exploratory trial involved 29 people. https://bmccomplementalternmed.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12906-017-1589-3
Electroacupuncture Releases Stem Cells
A team of more than 40 scientists at institutions in the United States and South Korea conducted a study that involved performing electroacupuncture (EA) on humans and rodents and performing imaging with functional MRIs of the subjects' brains. The researchers found that EA stimulates the brain to release reparative mesenchymal stem cells into the bloodstream within 2 hours. The researchers also found that EA treatments led to higher thresholds for injury-induced pain and increased a type of collagen that promotes tendon repair and anti-inflammatory cells' known speed healing time. The team reported their findings in the journal, Stem Cells. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/stem.2613/full
Acupuncture Found to Decrease Coronary Heart Disease Risk
Mei-Yao Wu, PhD, at the China Medical University Hospital in Taiwan, and colleagues, reported in Arthritis Research & Therapy that acupuncture reduces the risk of coronary heart disease in people with fibromyalgia, after analyzing data from the Taiwanese National Health Insurance Research Database. The results were independent of age, sex, comorbidities, or the use of anti-inflammatory drugs. https://arthritis-research.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13075-017-1239-7
Acupuncture Association Sues State Board
The Acupuncture Association of Colorado has filed suit against the Colorado Physical Therapy Board for not rescinding a rule enabling physical therapists to perform dry needling on patients. The state board maintains that the case should be dismissed, because the acupuncturists are too late for challenging the rule. The Colorado Chapter of the American Physical Therapy Association indicates on its website that the chapter plans to spend more than $50,000 for fighting to keep the right to perform dry needing. www.denverpost.com/2017/04/05/acupuncturists-sue-board/
People on the Move.
Peter T. Dorsher, MSc, MD, with the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, FL, authored the article, “Neuroembryology of the Acupuncture Principal Meridians: Part 1. The Extremities,” which is approved for Continuing Medical Education (CME) credits through the American Academy of Medical Acupuncture (AAMA). The article appears in the February, 2017 issue of the Journal and more information on CME is available online at: www.medicalacupuncture.org/cme
Jerry LeGlue, MD, DABMA, has been elected president of the AAMA. The results were ratified during the membership meeting on April 8, 2017. Tom Burgoon, MD, is the immediate past president.
Hugh MacPherson, PhD, MBAcC, at the University of York in the United Kingdom, wrote an invited commentary in The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine about the National Institute for Health and Care Excellent (NICE) guidelines omitting acupuncture.
Tim Iliff, LAc, is said to be the first licensed acupuncturist in the United States Air Force and is stationed at a pain clinic at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, AK.