Other complementary and alternative health practices including meditation and relaxation techniques, manual therapies such as massage and spinal manipulation also show promise for contributing to the management of pain.

“Much of health care involves helping people find solutions for tough problems like pain. I think all physicians are well aware of how difficult it is to manage chronic pain patients,” said Josephine Briggs, director of the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine at the National Institutes of Health.

Source: The Times of India

Only about half of insurers cover acupuncture, and those that do usually only cover a set number of sessions per year. But…

But insurance companies’ reluctance to cover licensed acupuncture treatments may be changing. For the ninth straight year, Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) is introducing legislation that would add acupuncture to the list of services covered by Medicare and Federal Employees Health Benefits Program participants.

“Even though the National Institutes of Health has found acupuncture to be an effective treatment for a range of serious diseases and conditions, 52 million Medicare beneficiaries and federal employees have no guaranteed access to the treatment,” Mike Morosi, Hinchey’s press secretary, writes in an email. “Congressman Hinchey will soon reintroduce the The Federal Acupuncture Coverage Act, which would ensure that those in need of care aren’t forced to choose more expensive, invasive and risky treatments with a long list of side effects simply because acupuncture isn’t covered.”

Check out the whole article at DailyFinance — very interesting and well worth the time.

A new study out of England and Denmark finds that needles stuck in two strategic spots on the head can help to reduce the anxiety that some feel in the presence of dental tools.

In a study published in the journal Acupuncture in Medicine, acupuncture treatment was performed in 16 women and four men from eight dental practices. Each of the patients had been rated as moderately or extremely anxious based on a questionnaire scale called the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI).

The BAI scores of the individuals were assessed before and five minutes after acupuncture treatment involving two specific points on the top of the head.

Dentists trained in the use of acupuncture carried out the experiments, and average BAI scores fell to 11.5 from 26.5. The acupuncture treatments worked so well that all 20 people managed to have their dental procedures carried out.

Source: WebMD

“It’s time to end the discrimination against alternative healthcare practices,’’ Harkin said at a congressional hearing.

Harkin is the cosponsor of an amendment that says healthcare plans will not be allowed to “discriminate’’ against any healthcare provider who has a license issued by a state, an amendment Senate aides said was designed to provide coverage for alternative medicine. Backers of the amendment say it could save tens of billions of dollars in the long run by providing less expensive and better alternatives to drugs and surgery in a variety of cases. The amendment was adopted by a Senate committee writing health legislation, but details are still being negotiated.

Currently there are wide disparities state by state on what alternative medicine disciplines are covered by insurance (and to what degree), or even on which disciplines get licensed. For example, 45 states now license acupuncturists, while only 15 license naturopathic physicians.

Will the amendment ever pass, even with its current bipartisan backing? Who can even say whether the health bill itself will eventually pass in a format that will actually help consumers instead of just maintaining the status quo (and I wouldn’t put too much money on the former).

Still, it is heartening that it is even being brought to the table, and supporters of alternative therapies have got to be thrilled that it’s a part of the current health-y dialogue going on in Washington.

A more accurate term for an acupuncture facelift is “acupuncture facial rejuvenation” or “cosmetic acupuncture.” Although it is not a replacement for surgery, cosmetic acupuncture is a safe, painless, and less costly alternative for a traditional facelift.

Cosmetic acupuncture is a series of acupuncture treatments to the face, ears, neck, hands, trunk, and legs along channels (meridians) through which the life force (chi) flows. The treatments are designed to reduce fine lines and wrinkles, improve your complexion, reduce puffiness, soften deep lines and wrinkles, improve muscle tone, enhance circulation, and give your face a more relaxed, younger look.

According to this Examiner article, most acupuncture facelift treatments involve 10-15 sessions, with occasional booster sessions after that to maintain the look (grimace of pain?) you’ve achieved.

This German study, conducted by the Centre for Complementary Medicine Research at Technische Universitat in Munich, involved 270 people who were treated for their tension headaches with a variety of methods over the course of eight weeks. Some received traditional Chinese acupuncture, other minimal acupuncture (where needles are inserted superficially into the skin), and still others received no treatment.

The participants were then monitored for the next four weeks. Those receiving the traditional Chinese acupuncture reported 7 fewer days of headaches during this period. Close behind them were those who had received the minimal acupuncture with 6.6 fewer days of headaches, while those receiving no treatment brought up the rear (as they are traditionally want to do) with 1.5 fewer headache days.

The study showed that acupuncture proved effective in diminishing tension headaches with very few side effects (dizziness and, oddly enough, a little bruising). Dr. Wolfgang Weidenhammer, one of the architects of the study, sums it up thusly: “Acupuncture was well tolerated and improvements lasted several months after completion of treatment.”

A study conducted by the University of British Columbia has found that acupuncture can be an effective treatment for drug addiction. Researchers at the University ran a three month program where they found that a statistically significant percentage of drug users who took part reduced their drug use after being treated with acupuncture. Many of the addicts who volunteered for the study said that they felt that acupuncture was a more natural alternative to methadone.

The journal Obstetrics & Gynecology also had good acupuncture news for another group: women suffering from overactive bladders. The 85 women participating in the study were each treated using acupuncture points on the body that are though to affect bladder control. After treatment, the women reported fewer trips to the bathroom and a reduced urgency to urinate.

Sufferers of fibromyalgia were not so acupuncturally fortunate. A recent study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine found that properly-performed acupuncture was no more effective at treating fibromyalgia than “sham” treatments which included inserting needles where there were no acupuncture points and simulated acupuncture, where needles didn’t actually pierce the skin. Researchers did note a slight improvement at the beginning of the study (which then leveled off and didn’t increase), but were unsure if this was due to an overall boost provided by acupuncture, or an “air of expectation” among the study’s participants.