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Acupuncture & Massage Therapy StoriesToday's Featured Doctor |
Can Acupuncture Reverse Wrinkles and Sags?
For centuries, when China's rich and famous started to grow wrinkled and saggy with age, they fought back with a form of acupuncture known as mei zen, which means "beautiful person."
Not long ago, this technique arrived in the United States, giving Americans an alternative to Botox, fillers and plastic surgery. Mei zen is a course of 10 acupuncture treatments, in which very fine needles are inserted into the skin.
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Meditation as a Brake on Aging
In today's fast-paced society, it's easier than ever to get wound up, worked up and stressed out. And that means enduring constantly high bodily levels of the "fight or flight" hormones cortisol and epinephrine.
While these two proteins are very helpful, when the body is constantly charged with them without any "down time," a lot of negative things start happening. These include mental decline, thyroid impairment, blood sugar imbalance, muscle loss, midriff fat gain, blood pressure increase and immunity falloff.
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Acupuncture May Help Some Women Conceive
A study at a Virginia University is giving hope to women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) that they will be able to return to normal fertility and become mothers. Lisa Pastore, assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at University of Virginia Health System and the study's principal author, has been thrilled by her results. "Over the last year, we have seen women who never had a regular menstrual cycle start having regular periods," she said. "We can also boast several pregnancies since the study began. Now we would like to recruit more people to the study in order to complete the study. It is important for research to have enough participants to ensure that the results are scientifically credible and not due to chance."
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Waiting May Reduce Need for Back Surgery
New studies demonstrate that waiting may be the best alternative to back surgery.
Approximately 1.5 million back surgeries are performed worldwide. These surgeries are performed to address painful problems associated with slipped or misaligned disks. Intransient sciatica and other lower back conditions are extremely painful and can impact the quality of life of those afflicted. New research though suggests that 75% of such cases will improve on their own if left untreated.
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ACUPUNCTURE AND FIBROMYALGIA
There is new hope for the millions of americans suffering from fibromyalgia.
Fibromyalgia is a disorder that causes muscle pain, stiffness and fatigue for unknown reasons. It affects between three and six percent of Americans, mainly women.
Treating the disorder using western medicine can be frustrating. This is why many are now turning to old, eastern medicine for an answer.
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Worried Sick? There Might Be Some Truth There
A recent report by health provider BUPA has found that people's worries are damaging their health by causing sleepless nights, loss of sex drive, and erratic eating habits. The 2007 Worry Report demonstrates that almost one in five people constantly worry about numerous things, and more than half feel they worry more now than five years ago. Half of the people surveyed this year, which is 6% more than in 2006, claimed they were more worried about their health and their family's health than about other concerning issues such as climate change or terrorist attacks. The survey finds that almost three quarters of people worry, but around 19% admit to worrying all the time or about a number of things.
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Electroacupuncture May Improve GERD Symptoms
A recent Chinese study reported in an issue of the World Journal of Gastroenterology has found that electroacupuncture at the Pericardium Meridian Point 6 (or PC6) may decrease the frequency of symptoms behind GERD. The researchers found elctroacupuncture to decrease the GERD inducing transient lower sphincter relaxation function (or TLESR) in cats. This effect appeared to act at the brain stem, and may be mediated through nitric oxide and mu-opioid receptors.
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What is Peripheral Arterial Disease?
Dr. Sattesh Babu of Vascular Associates of Westchester discusses Peripheral Arterial Disease, who is at risk, why it is important to be screened and current treatments.
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Reducing Stress Lowers Risk of Cardiovascular Problems
A Review in The Lancet reveals the importance of healthy lifestyle choices to reduce stressors related to cardiovascular risk factors. Researchers from John Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore examined records between 1990 to 2006. They observed how stress affects the sympathetic nervous system, impacts physiology, and the effect it has on the cardiovascular system. Lead author, Daniel Brotman, claims "Acute physical stressors such as sugery, trauma, and intense physical exertion are well known triggers of cardiovascular events. Emotional stressors are increasingly recognized as precipitants of such events."
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Rapid Rise in "Complementary" Medical Services
 Have you been to a practitioner besides your family physician? Whether chiropractic care, acupuncture, yoga or homeopathy, Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) has become increasingly common in the United States, and 72% of adults use some form of CAM therapies according to the US National Centers for Disease Control and US National Center for Health Statistics.
A recent cover story in The New York Times Magazine highlighted how chronic pain tends to be under treated because doctors worry about over prescribing medications, and being liable for malpractice or even criminal penalties. Many doctors fear entering the field of pain management at all. Many patients are also concerned about becoming dependant on medication or about the invasiveness and dangers of surgery and anesthesia. CAM therapies, which are able to treat pain and help manage diseases without medication or surgery, are rapidly growing services as people search out better, safer approaches.
So how effective are Complementary and Alternative Medicine therapies?
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