Acupuncture therapy for stroke

Acupuncture therapy for stroke-caused conditions such as paralysis, speech and swallowing problems, and depression is commonly used in the Orient. In China and Japan, an acupuncturist is likely to start therapy as soon as possible after a stroke. However, my recommendation is a delay of 2 weeks before acupuncture for strokes caused by bleeding in the brain, 10 to 20% of strokes (instead of the usual blood vessel block or clot). The wait is due to studies showing that acupuncture opens blood vessels for better flow and decreases clotting and inflammation. These effects are desired early when arteries are blocked, but after a stroke caused by bleeding has occurred, it is safer to wait until the bleeding blood vessel has clotted and is unlikely to bleed further before providing the acupuncture.

Acupuncture is done on a daily basis in China. Uncertain as to whether daily acupuncture is essential, even in Western countries, some acupuncturists with experience in treating stroke with acupuncture believe treatment 3 times a week is optimal. Several different approaches have been used to treat stroke, demonstrating that acupuncture for this disorder remains a healthcare art: Traditional Chinese Yang meridian point therapy, Chinese scalp acupuncture,

Dr. Yamamoto's YNSA Japanese scalp therapy, Korean Koryo Chim hand acupuncture, supplemental ear (auricular) acupuncture, and Xingnao KaiQiao (a newer therapy by Professor Shi Xuemin) are each advocated by a number of treatment centers in Oriental countries. One need not know in depth the approach of each, but it is important to know that more than one approach is available and used.

Does acupuncture really work to help stroke victims improve? Many studies involving thousands of patients have been published in China and Japan, and 2 of 3 studies from Scandinavia, demonstrated significant help. These studies indicate that patients get well faster, perform better in self-care, require less nursing and rehabilitation therapy, and use less healthcare dollars. However, since most studies come from China, they get little credence from the Western medical community because researchers in China do not appear to be published unless their results are highly positive, so publication bias is possible. And, no money has been made available in the United States for studies needed to confirm the claims of experts in China and Japan of indeed helping stroke patients. Such studies, if done well, demand significant funding; sources of such money are difficult to find. Most physicians, including rehabilitation experts, have appeared unwilling to consider acupuncture therapy, not due to bias but because the published studies do not necessarily meet research study criteria for the United States.

Acupuncture is a safe therapy, and my experience has taught that this is especially true when helping stroke victims. Even discomfort is generally minimal. If one compares the possible positive help to be obtained with the risks associated with acupuncture, my contention is that acupuncture is worthy to attempt for stroke therapy. Studies are needed in the United States to prove this to medical skeptics. It will be important for such studies to involve skilled acupuncturists with experience in stroke therapy.

Adding acupuncture to rehabilitation therapy obviously increases the cost; daily-to-3 times-weekly treatment is needed for 2-4 weeks or longer. Concern for added cost would perhaps disappear if the end result demonstrates more self-care and less dependence on family and health providers.

by Russ Erickson, MD, Acupuncture therapy for stroke

Ten-year-old Elena has Tourette’s Syndrome.  A year ago, her doctor said Prozac was the only way to treat her full-body tics.  Instead, she tried acupuncture, and the tics went away. 

“I don’t understand it, but it sure has worked miracles for our family,” says her mother, Beth Clark.

Eleven-year-old Megan does not like needles, so she tried acupressure, with magnets instead of needles.  It worked.  The migraines she used to get several times a week since she was five are now mostly gone.

“I used to be kinda sad and depressed, but now I’m all happy, and I feel a lot better,” Megan says.

According to the National Institutes of Health, 3 million adults and over 150,000 kids use acupuncture for relief when mainstream medicine just doesn’t work.

“A lot of people have been very skeptical,” says medical acupuncturist Dr. May Loo.  “They say ‘Oh, I’ve tried everything else, I’ve tried medication, and now I’m ready to go to surgery, but just as a last try, let me see if acupuncture is going to work’ and then acupuncture took the pain away.”

According to ancient Chinese medicine, energy, called Qi (pronounced ‘Chee’), flows through 20 channels in the body.  When the Qi gets blocked, it can cause pain.  Acupuncture is supposed to help the Qi start flowing again, which in turn relieves the pain.

 

“And so the person’s pain goes away.  The headache goes away.  So that’s how you know that the person is getting better.  Even though it is not being shown on, you know, an MRI scan or something like that,” says Dr. Loo.

Dr. Loo says it can work even on patients who are skeptical.  Elena’s mom agrees, “It’s working wonderfully!”

Tips for Parents

Acupuncture originated in China thousands of years ago and is today one of the most commonly used medical procedures in the world.

Practitioners of acupuncture believe there are more than 2,000 acupuncture points on the human body. 
These points are believed to stimulate the central nervous system (the brain and spinal cord) to release chemicals into the muscles, spinal cord, and brain.  These chemicals either change the experience of pain or release other chemicals, such as hormones, that influence the body's self-regulating systems. The biochemical changes may stimulate the body's natural healing abilities and promote physical and emotional well-being.

As acupuncture has become more accepted in the U.S., it is being used more often to complement “conventional” treatments.   For example, doctors may combine acupuncture and drugs to control surgery-related pain in their patients.  This combination has allowed some doctors to offer their patients complete pain relief for some procedures.  It has also have found that using acupuncture lowers the need for conventional pain-killing drugs, reduces the risk of side effects.

Acupuncture is used to treat a range of illnesses, including:

• Postoperative surgery pain, postoperative dental pain.
• Nausea and vomiting related to chemotherapy.
• Sinusitis, bronchitis, asthma.
• Gastritis, ulcers, nausea, vomiting, colitis, hiccups, constipation.
• Headache, neck pain, low back pain, tennis elbow, frozen shoulder, osteoarthritis, peripheral neuropathy and stroke rehabilitation.
• Menstrual cramps, fibromyalgia, myofascial pain, carpel tunnel syndrome, and addiction.

Research on acupuncture is inconclusive.  Some studies show acupuncture effective in relieving both chronic (long-lasting) and acute or sudden pain, but other research shows no relief at all.

Pediatric acupuncture is a very new field of treatment.  Few licensed acupuncturists specialize in children and there is little research on child acupuncture.  Laws governing required training for acupuncture vary widely from state to state.  Pediatricians counsel:

• Conventional treatments be used before trying acupuncture
• An acupuncture procedure that works in adults will not necessarily work in children

If you are looking for a licensed acupuncture practitioner, the National Institutes of Health recommends you:

• Check a practitioner's credentials.  Most states have training standards for acupuncture certification, but requirements vary from state to state

References

• National Certification Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine
• American Academy of Medical Acupuncture
• NIH National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine

Cosmetic acupuncture

JANE BECKER, a composer and solo pianist, celebrated her 50th birthday at the dermatologist, paying $1,500 for shots of Restylane and Botox But three months later, their wrinkle-smoothing effects wore off. So, she turned to a less-artificial youth tonic: Cosmetic acupuncture.

Like many women who have tried cosmetic acupuncture in pursuit of beauty, Ms. Becker hoped that having needles strategically inserted into her face would be cheaper and last longer than her birthday injections.

Ms. Becker, now 53, started with 10 sessions in five weeks ($1,000) and has gone for monthly maintenance since ($105 a session).

Cosmetic acupuncture didn’t end up being much of a bargain, but it pays in other ways, she said.
“I can really see a difference in my face,” said Ms. Becker, who sees Steven Sonmore, a licensed acupuncturist in Minneapolis. “It looks younger, smoother, brighter and uplifted.”

Early adopters like Ms. Becker first spread word of the virtues of a so-called acupuncture face-lift. Then before the 2005 Academy Awards, a crew of facial acupuncturists descended on Soho House, a makeshift celebrity hangout in Los Angeles, and A-listers jumped at the chance to transform their skin from the inside out.

Now, thanks to more robust marketing, cosmetic acupuncture has caught the attention of more of the wrinkled public. Its holistic approach appeals in particular to women who want to slow signs of aging, but don’t want to undergo surgery or to inject chemicals. Cosmetic acupuncture

Acupuncture / acupuncturist in Copenhagen, Denmark

were to get acupuncture treatment in Denmark, Copenhagen.

Acupuncture clinic Apunkt.dk St. Regnegade 26a. 1110 Copenhagen City, Denmark

Pain treatment. Fertility – IVF / intracytoplasmic sperm injection. Cosmetic acupuncture – a facelift.

Other treatment with acupuncture:

 

 

Acne Rosacea

Alcoholism

Allergies

Allergies with Runny Nose

Allergies with Headaches

Amenorrhea

Arthritis

Appendicitis

Asthma

acupuncture

Back Pain

Clogged Arteries, High Cholesterol

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome I

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome II

Degenerative Joint Disease

Depression

Depression/Anxiety

Dermatology: Rash of Unknown Origin

Dry Eyes

Ear Infection

Endometriosis

Epstein Barr virus

Headache

Hives

Infertility

Infertility I

Insomnia

Interstitial Cystitis

Irritable Bowel Syndrome

Leukopenia

acupuncture

Multiple Sclerosis

Menopause

Menstrual Cramps

Migraines

Neck and Back Pain

Morton's Neuroma

Post-Polio Syndrome

Plantar Facitis

Restless Leg Syndrome

Sciatica

Sciatica

Shingles

Sinusitis

Quit Smoking

Ulcerative Colitis

Weight Loss

Acupuncture in Copenhagen

 

 

Acupuncture is today in most western cultures it is considered a "new alternative" medicine. In reality Acupuncture (and its related Moxibustion) are practiced medical treatments that are over 5,000 years old. Very basically, Acupuncture is the insertion of very fine needles, (sometimes in conjunction with electrical stimulus), on the body's surface, in order to influence physiological functioning of the body.

 

The general theory of acupuncture is based on the premise that there are patterns of energy flow (Qi) through the body that are essential for health. Disruptions of this flow are believed to be responsible for disease. Acupuncture may, it has been theorized, correct imbalances of flow at identifiable points close to the skin.

Polycystic Ovary Disease/Syndrome

seems to be cropping up more and more. It seems every one female clients having fertility issues have all been diagnosed with PCOS and the medications they are prescribing to aid it are less than friendly. Noe the University of Virginia is announcing a call for volunteers for a study to test the effectiveness of acupuncture on this growing disorder. Unfortunately, they are going with sham acupuncture as the control rather than no treatment, or doing a drug versus acupuncture study, but at least it is a beginning. PCOS Polycystic Ovary Disease/Syndrome. From Acupuncture news.

 

Facial Acupuncture for Hoollywood stars

 

Who wouldn't want to look 10 years younger in just 20 minutes? In America, you can – as long as you don't mind lying in a darkened room with needles protruding from your face, eyes and ears.

The rich, the vain and the famous (reportedly Madonna, Gwyneth Paltrow and Cher) are having weekly "acupuncture facelifts" to ward off their wrinkles.

The "facelift" is administered by a acupuncturist, who spikes your face with disposable, hair-thin needles that – allegedly – turn back time and halt the physical manifestations of ageing.

The needles are inserted into wrinkles and frown lines, eventually making them vanish.

The stimulation brings blood rushing to the face, which makes it look flushed. Apparently, after a few sessions, eyes brighten, skin feels firmer, lips become plumper and blemishes vanish.

"Facial acupuncture stimulates the cells to lay down new collagen fibres under wrinkles, thereby filling them in," says New York acupuncturist Billy Villano. "And the needles relax muscles, which combats sagging in facial areas. The results are amazing."

Determined to find out just how "amazing" facial acupuncture might be, I made an appointment with Clarence Lu, a New York-based OMD.

"Why do you want facial acupuncture?" he asks, peering at my skin. "I've heard it's popular with celebrities and I want to try it for myself," I say.

Lu looks unimpressed. "I suppose it's a better option than Botox injections," he says. "The facial acupuncture works by making energy circulate properly around your face, but energy needs to circulate properly around your whole body, not just your face."

Lu offers to give me traditional acupuncture but refuses to administer facial acupuncture, saying he doesn't see the point.

Traditional acupuncture has been practised for centuries and is used to treat many ailments, from migraines to menstrual disorders.

It focuses on the entire body by regulating one's flow of energy, or "qi", and addressing the "energy blockages" that might be causing the problem.

Consult an acupuncturist for help to quit smoking and he will also examine your eating and sleeping habits, the condition of your pulse and your sex life. Acupuncture facelifts fly in the face of that philosophy, focusing solely on the appearance of the facial skin and features.

"Some women ask to have the needles placed all around the edges of their lips so that they swell up," says Lu, disdainfully. "It's something I won't do. It would be very, very painful."

Facial acupuncture is indeed ridiculously self-indulgent – but according to Hollywood stars, who incorporate acupuncture facelifts into their primping routines, it works. It makes you look young and bursting with health, even if you are a chain-smoker who lives on junk food.

Part of the beauty of these facelifts is their accessibility; they take about as long as a manicure. Afterwards, there is no scar and no permanently surprised expression. The only downside is that treatment is exorbitantly expensive.

A half-hour session costs about $150 (£80) and it takes around 25 weekly sessions to achieve lasting results (50 sessions if you're extremely wrinkly).

Finally, after I had stayed up all night meeting a deadline, acupuncturist Billy Villano agreed that I looked tired and washed-out enough to require an acupuncture facelift.

"This won't be as dramatic as a surgical facelift," he says. "If you had severe wrinkles or a double chin, I couldn't promise that this would eliminate them. But it would definitely make them look better."

I lie back in his Brooklyn office, while he takes my pulse, inspects my tongue and palpates my stomach (from this he can tell the condition of my "qi" and if I have energy blockages that prevent my skin from glowing).

Apparently, I have "spleen qi deficiency" – which, Villano quickly points out, does not mean that there is anything actually wrong with my spleen.

"It means that, going by the Chinese definition of things, your spleen energy is a bit depleted, which might make you appear a bit bloated. It could be caused by stress, or consuming too many ice-cold beverages, or by too much work," says Villano.

Then, he pinches my cheek and inserts tiny needles with a tapping motion. I make the mistake of smiling bravely at Villano and an intense pain shoots from my cheek to my ear.

This is good, apparently – it is my stuck qi circulating around my tired face. Two needles are inserted (thankfully painlessly) into my forehead to energise me and brighten my complexion.

Another needle goes into my chin, three into each ear and a few around my eyes, to widen them. The final needle is tapped into the top of my head, to wake me up. But, instead, I drift off to sleep.

After 35 minutes, Villano whisks the needles out (this part doesn't hurt at all). My skin looks markedly brighter and fresher than it did when I arrived. I had planned to go home for a nap after my acupuncture facelift, but I feel so alert and refreshed that I arrange to meet a friend for lunch instead.

"What have you been up to?" my friend asks, when I walk into the restaurant. "Your skin looks amazing."

Facial acupuncture from The Tlegraph

Acupuncture May Aid In Vitro Fertilization

Acupuncture from around the world

The oldest known text on acupuncture, the Systematic Classic of Acupuncture, dates back to 282 A.D. Although acupuncture is its best known technique, Chinese medicine traditionally utilizes herbal remedies, dietary therapy, lifestyle changes and other means to treat patients.

A possible scientific explanation for acupuncture is that the insertion of needles stimulates deep sensory nerves in the body that cause a chemical release of endorphins and other substances. These substances, once released in the body, can help with pain relief, assist healing or be used for anaesthetic purposes.

Definition Akupunktur  Deutschland

Die Akupunktur ist ein Verfahren aus der traditionellen chinesischen Medizin, bei dem durch Einstechen von Nadeln an bestimmten Punkten des Körpers ein Gleichgewicht wiederhergestellt werden soll. Das Verfahren wird in der Alternativmedizin und zunehmend auch in der wissenschaftlich orientierten Medizin eingesetzt und kann insbesondere in der Schmerztherapie sinnvoll sein.

Agopuntura  Italy

Comunemente si dice che l'agopuntura venga dalla Cina. I fatti storici sono indiscutibili: questa forma di medicina è conosciuta e praticata in Cina da una antichità remota, in ogni caso prima di Gesù Cristo. Le prime notizie su questa scienza, perché si tratta di una scienza, risalgono ai primi missionari gesuiti che avevano segnalato questa "medicina strana e barbara consistente nell'infilare aghi lunghi nel ventre delle persone

Chinese Acupuncture

Acupuncture, the ancient Chinese practice of sticking needles into a patient at specific points to relieve pain and treat other conditions, seems to alleviate pain just barely better than sticking needles into nonspecified parts of the body, a new analysis shows.

Researchers in Denmark came to this conclusion, which they report in the Feb. 7British Medical Journal, after analyzing 13 studies in which people received real acupuncture, sham acupuncture or standard pain treatments such as drugs.

The studies enrolled 3,025 people in all. In each, the participants were randomly assigned to get one of the three therapies. Decreases in pain, if any, were recorded using standard pain scales.

On average, people getting acupuncture or sham acupuncture — in which needles are stuck into body areas not targeted by acupuncturists — sensed a clear decrease in pain, whereas those getting standard care sensed considerably less improvement. People getting real acupuncture reported a little more pain relief than those getting the sham needle sticks, but this slight difference was insignificant from a clinical perspective, says study coauthor Asbjørn Hróbjartsson, a physician and epidemiologist at Rigshospitalet in Copenhagen.

The value of acupuncture in this meta-analysis might have been diluted somewhat by the study design, says physician Adrian White of the University of Plymouth in England. For example, some of the studies in this analysis centered on sore backs and knee pain from osteoarthritis, areas in which acupuncture has a positive track record, he says. But the overall value of acupuncture for pain might have been lessened by the inclusion of studies of people with headaches, a group in which acupuncture hasn’t performed well, he says.

Of course, he concedes, “this was done because acupuncturists argue they can treat any kind of condition.”

Acupuncture purports to hit key spots along channels called meridians that run throughout the body. But the narrow difference in the findings of sham needle sticks and real acupuncture raises the question of how acupuncture works.

The placebo effect, in which patients get some benefit from a fake treatment because they assume it is real, probably plays a role in acupuncture and may explain some of the sham acupuncture benefit, says Andrea Furlan, a physician and pain researcher at the University of Toronto and the Institute for Work & Health, also in Toronto. But the placebo effect is unlikely to account for all the pain reduction, she says. “There might be physiological changes” brought on as needle sticks affect the nervous system, she says.

The experience of undergoing the ritual of acupuncture also influences the therapy’s effectiveness, she says. “Belief is a big part of this,” says Furlan, a trained acupuncturist who no longer practices.

Only a few decades ago, most Western doctors had little regard for acupuncture. Now, that viewpoint is more mixed. Insurance companies in some countries even reimburse for its costs — for certain health problems.

“Complimentary or alternative therapies often provoke a division into believers and nonbelievers,” says Hróbjartsson. “That is also the case with acupuncture, though in acupuncture, in my view, a strict division is too simplistic. There are moderate skeptics and moderate believers.”

From Society for Science & the Public

 

 

 

 

Acupuncture - Alternative Medical Treatments from Fox News.

When traditional therapies don't work for pain, a lot of patients turn to alternative treatments like acupuncture. Usually, you have to do your own research to find a therapist. But some medical practices are tapping into the market and offering the treatments themselves. Depending on your insurance plan, these treatments may or may not be covered — so check your plan first.

 

Acupuncture