A few decades ago, acupuncture was not a modality one expected US military healthcare to embrace. For most non-Asian Americans, it was more the stuff of myth than a reality of medical practice. Colonel Richard Charles Niemtzow, MD, PhD, MPH, did much to change that. Over his long and admirable career, he worked tirelessly to […]
For thousands of years cupping therapy—the placement of special cups over areas of pain or restriction and creation of negative pressure (vacuum) to disrupt the stagnation–played an important role in medicine. This ancient practice spanned from Egypt, to China, Greece, Europe and the Americas. Though most commonly used for musculoskeletal pain relief, the clinical applications […]
A Traditional Chinese medicine formula, Liuwei Dihuang, is compared to the conventional drug alendronate, as a treatment for osteoporosis in a recent study.
Modern Acupuncture, the country’s first acupuncture franchise, is bringing the ancient healing practice to the masses with a unique focus on convenience and affordability. But is it watering down and oversimplifying this venerable modality?
Grim conditions at the Texas–Mexico border have prompted integrative clinicians to bring much-needed holistic healthcare to asylum seekers and aid workers throughout the Rio Grande Valley.
doTERRA, one of the world’s leading marketers of botanical essential oils for healthcare uses, is launching a healthcare system. Guided by a bold vision of transforming American healthcare, the company is planning a nationwide network of integrative medical clinics wholly owned and overseen by doTERRA, that would operate on a membership or concierge-style model, in […]
Biomedical science has reduced foods to the sum of their calories and micronutrients. While it is important to understand the biochemistry of what we eat, it is also important to realize that the qualities, colors, textures of our foods and the ways they are cooked play just as much of a role as their “nutrient content” in influencing our health. Traditional Chinese medicine has much to teach us on this subject.
By reducing sympathetic nervous system activity, acupuncture can be a valuable tool in treating mild-to-moderate hypertension. In some cases, it can obviate the need for antihypertensive drugs which often have a lot of side effects. Researchers at the Susan Samueli Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of California, Irvine, are learning how acupuncture works at the neuronal level.
Ampelopsis brevipedunculata aka Porcelainberry, a rapidly growing vine in the grape family, has become a bane of many American gardeners and landscapers, owing to its rapid and invasive growth. In Japan, it has been used as a medicinal for centuries. Recent research suggests the “grapes” from this plant can halt liver fibrosis and improve liver function in people with hepatitis.
What works for attention deficit disorder? Depends on the kid, says Dr. Stephen Cowan, a holistic pediatrician who uses the Five Elements concepts from traditional Chinese medicine in working with attention problems in children. He believes modern drug therapies, with their one-size-fits-all philosophy, are doing more harm than good for many of these kids. The Five Elements approach recognizes that children are different from one another, and opens up a healthier way of addressing this increasingly common problem.
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