AAMA Launches Pilot Grant Program
The American Academy of Medical Acupuncture (AAMA) has established the Medical Acupuncture Research Foundation Pilot Grant program to encourage applicants to submit pragmatic clinical-trial proposals. The foundation will award a grant each year to a qualified applicant for an amount up to $30,000. Members of the AAMA are encouraged to apply. All submissions must be received by January 30, 2020. www.medicalacupuncture.org/For-Physicians/Research-Information
Acupuncture might increase Live Births with IVF
When used as an adjunctive treatment to embryo transfer, acupuncture is more effective than no adjunctive therapies for increasing pregnancies and live births as well as for reducing miscarriages, according to a systematic review and meta-analysis reported in Reproductive Biomedicine Online. Caroline A. Smith, PhD, at the NICM Health Research Institute at Western Sydney University in Australia, was the lead researcher for this review and analysis, which involved 20 trials and 5130 women. When acupuncture at the time of embryo transfer was compared with sham acupuncture at that same time, there were no differences in outcomes. Women who had multiple prior in vitro (IVF) fertilization procedures or low-baseline pregnancy rates appeared to benefit the most. The researchers suggested that more research is needed to determine dosing regimens and to investigate what aspects of acupuncture lead to better reproductive outcomes. www.rbmojournal.com/article/S1472-6483(18)30675-8/fulltext
Acupressure can reduce Pain and Anxiety
Participants in a study reported having less pain and less anxiety following acupressure treatments, according to a study in The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine. Elizabeth Monson, MA, MS, CRNP, at Intermountain Medical Center, in Salt Lake City, UT, was the lead author of the article, which describes the retrospective database analysis of self-rated pain and anxiety before and after a stress-release acupressure protocol. On a 10-point scale, participants reported a 2-point decrease in pain and a 4-point decline in anxiety after the treatment. Seventy-five percent of participants were highly satisfied with acupressure treatments, and 96% of treatments were administered in less than 30 minutes. https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/10.1089/acm.2018.0422
Missouri Medicaid to Cover Acupuncture
The State of Missouri's Medicaid program, MO HealthNet Division, has expanded the use of complementary and alternative therapies, including acupuncture, to reduce the risk of opioid misuse. Acupuncture will be covered for treating chronic pain. The state's Department of Social Services said it is committed to reducing substance use. MO HealthNet Division anticipates that, by adding the new covered services, costs will decrease due to reducing the need for prescription drugs and for spending money on other medical services. https://dss.mo.gov/press/03-28-2019-MOHealthnet-therapies-April1.htm
Veterans can receive Acupuncture with Choice Program
The Department of Veterans Affairs will pay 100% for acupuncture in the Veterans Choice Program. The veteran must receive authorization through his or her VA physician to see a “Choice Provider.” The veteran's condition will determine the number of treatments that will be covered. Pain management, opioid addiction, post-traumatic stress disorder, insomnia, and some digestive issues are diagnoses that may be treated with acupuncture. Acupuncturists must apply to become Choice Providers. www.castlerockco.com/acupuncture-no-out-of-pocket-for-veterans-with-choice-program/
Emergency Patients obtain Pain Relief with Acupuncture
Seeking more nondrug methods to relieve patients' pain, some hospitals now offer acupuncture in their emergency departments. A study conducted at Aurora Health Care in Milwaukee, WI, and presented at the American Pain Society's annual meeting found that patients and physicians accepted the acupuncture, and more enrolled for the treatment than expected; 379 of the 706 patients approached tried the acupuncture. Pain scores improved from 6.5 to 3.4, on a 10-point scale, with 10 being the worst pain ever. Stress, nausea, and anxiety scores also decreased. www.jpain.org/article/S1526-5900(19)30654-6/fulltext
Some Insurers oppose Covering Acupuncture
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Pain Management Best Practices Inter-Agency Task Force reported that insurers often do not cover nonopioid pain-management strategies, including acupuncture—and some insurers are pushing back against this finding—according to an article in Modern Healthcare. The insurance industry's lobbying group America's Health Insurance Plans, said that complementary and alternative treatments lack standardized licensing and clear evidence. The article noted that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services do not reimburse patients for acupuncture treatments, and that proponents hope the HHS report will increase coverage. https://www.modernhealthcare.com/insurance/insurers-push-back-hhs-recommendations-non-opioid-treatment
Acupuncture Students providing free Therapy
Students from the Pacific College of Oriental Medicine, in Mission Valley, CA, who are studying acupuncture, are administering the treatment to homeless and low-income people at some free clinics in San Diego, CA. Each week, the supervised students visit a different clinic. People taking advantage of the service primarily seek relief from pain or chronic illness. However, homeless people often suffer from stress-related conditions or substance abuse, which acupuncture also can help mitigate. www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/homelessness/story/2019-04-05/acupuncture-for-homeless-offered-in-free-cli
Acupuncture for Treating Cancer-Related Insomnia
A randomized trial comparing 8 weeks of acupuncture and cognitive–behavioral therapy (CBT) for treating insomnia among 160 cancer survivors found both treatments effective for reducing the severity of insomnia, but the CBT was more effective, especially for men, white people, highly educated patients, and those who had no pain at baseline, according to a study in Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Shelia N. Garland, PhD, at Memorial University of Newfoundland, in Canada, was the lead author of the study, which also found that acupuncture was more effective for relieving pain than the CBT therapy. Both treatments produced a benefit for up to 20 weeks, and patients reported improved quality of life with both. Even so, the researchers recommended CBT, with sleep restriction and stimulus control, as a first-line approach to dealing with insomnia when patients do not have pain. https://academic.oup.com/jnci/advance-article-abstract/doi/10.1093/jnci/djz050/5426666
CAM use in Patients with Cancer not reported to their Doctors
A survey to determine how many patients with cancer and survivors use complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) found that 33.3% of the 3118 participants reported using CAMs in the past year—most commonly herbal supplements, massage, chiropractic or osteopathic manipulation, and other modalities. Of the respondents, 2% used acupuncture. Many of the participants—29.3%—did not tell their physicians about using the integrative therapies, thinking that the physicians did not need to know, according to a Research Letter in JAMA Oncology. Nina N. Sanford, MD, at the University of Texas Southwestern, in Dallas, TX, was the lead researcher. The researchers used data from the National Health Interview Survey. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamaoncology/fullarticle/%202730130
Chronic Knee pain relieved with Acupuncture
Patients with chronic knee pain due to osteoarthritis treated with both acupuncture and topical ibuprofen obtained relief with the combination, according to a study in Medicine. Shi-Chen Liu, in the Orthopedics Department of the First Affiliated Hospital at Jiamusi University in China, and colleagues, conducted a retrospective study with 84 patients to assess the safety and effectiveness of acupuncture as an adjunctive therapy along with topical ibuprofen. After the study was completed, based on the results, the researchers concluded that “the effectiveness of acupuncture plus topical ibuprofen may be better than topical ibuprofen monotherapy for patients with chronic knee pain due to osteoarthritis.” https://insights.ovid.com/crossref?an=00005792-201904260-00047
Clinical Trial on Acupuncture for Vasectomy Anxiety and Pain Control
Matthew Snyder, DO, FAAFP, a Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Air Force, and fellow researchers at the Mike O'Callaghan Military Hospital in Nevada are conducting a clinical trial to compare auricular acupuncture and body acupuncture, with clinic-standardized vasectomy medications to determine which approach yields better outcomes with respect to reducing anxiety before the procedure and providing procedural pain relief versus medication usage in adult male patients following vasectomy. The team plans to enroll 85 men and complete the study in May 2021. https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03938415
Acupuncture stimulation might increase Sperm counts and Motility
Transcutaneous, electrical acupuncture-point stimulation can increase sperm counts and motility in patients who have abnormal semen, according to a study in Acupuncture in Medicine. Yan Yu—at The Second Hospital, affiliated with the Shandong University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, in Jinan, The People's Republic of China—and colleagues, evaluated the effect of transcutaneous, electrical acupuncture-point stimulation on sperm counts and other semen parameters in 121 patients. The researchers randomized the participants into 3 treatment groups and 1 control group, and found that patients, with abnormal semen parameters, who received transcutaneous, electrical acupuncture-point stimulation had greater sperm counts and motility. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1136/acupmed-2017-011365
Acupuncture as an Adjunct to Medications for Treating Depression
Manual acupuncture and electroacupuncture were beneficial for treating moderate-to-severe depression when used with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, according to a randomized controlled trial by Chinese researchers and reported in the Journal of Psychiatric Research. Bingcong Zhao, at the Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, School of Acupuncture-Moxibustion and Tuina in China, was the lead researcher. In addition to enhancing the therapeutic benefit of the medications, acupuncture potentially reduced the drugs' adverse effects. Patients tolerated and accepted the acupuncture. www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022395618312949?via%3Dihub
Expert Spotlight.
Songxuan Zhou Niemtzow, MD (China), LAc, a Traditional Chinese Medicine physician, and Nadia Volf, MD, PhD, served as guest editors on a special issue (volume 31, Number 2) of Medical Acupuncture about Acupuncture to Foster Health Promotion and Disease Prevention.
William Welches, DO, PhD, a pain-management physician at the Cleveland Clinic in Warrensville Heights, OH, wrote an article in the organization's healthessentials publication about managing chronic pain without medications. He included acupuncture in the article.
Alexandra Dimitrova, MD, MA, MCR, received first-place submission honors from the American Academy of Medical Acupuncture for her presentation “Nerve-Specific Local and Systemic Analgesic Effects of Acupuncture in Healthy Adults, Measured by Quantitative Sensory Testing.”
Nick Kouchis, MD, of Woodbrige, IL, gave an American Academy of Medical Acupuncture presymposium workshop about incorporating medical acupuncture into a medical practice.