Five Reasons To Consider Acupuncture

Author Chris Titus identifies five reasons for patients to consider using acupuncture.
five reasons to use acupuncture

In recent years, Oriental medicine has been growing in popularity, forcing many in the Western medical community to sit up and take notice. Fifteen years ago, if you asked your primary care physician about acupuncture, he or she might have laughed you out of their office. Today, their responses have changed to something more accepting. While most will readily admit they don’t understand this ancient practice, there is a growing body of research that indicates it works for many conditions.

National Geographic

Shaolin monk demonstrates power of Chi by withstanding a blow from a baseball bat, and a spear to the neck. Program: Fight Science – Qi Gong Tested


  
Acupuncture Clinical Research

The following list of clinical trials was found on PubMed—a database containing more than 21 million citations for biomedical literature from MEDLINE, life science journals, and online books. December 21, 2011


  
  • JAMA - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21571233
    “Acupuncture had a strong and positive effect on attrition and mortality.”
  • JAMA – http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11105182
    “adjunct electroacupuncture was more effective in controlling emesis than minimal needling or antiemetic pharmacotherapy alone.”
  • JAMA – http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9809733
    “showing efficacy of acupuncture in adult postoperative and chemotherapy nausea and vomiting and in postoperative dental pain. There are other situations, such as addiction, stroke rehabilitation, headache, menstrual cramps, tennis elbow, fibromyalgia, myofascial pain, osteoarthritis, low back pain, carpal tunnel syndrome, and asthma, in which acupuncture may be useful as an adjunct treatment or an acceptable alternative or be included in a comprehensive management program. Further research is likely to uncover additional areas where acupuncture interventions will be useful.”
  • Lancet - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16005336
    “After 8 weeks of treatment, pain and joint function are improved more with acupuncture than with minimal acupuncture or no acupuncture in patients with osteoarthritis of the knee”
  • Lancet - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2567439
    “Significant treatment effects persisted at the end of the six-month follow-up”
  • Lancet - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2878274
    “After three weeks’ treatment the traditional-acupuncture group showed significantly greater benefit in terms of subjective scores of breathlessness and six-minute walking distance.”
  • Lancet – http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2878275
    “Real acupuncture provided better protection against exercise-induced asthma than did sham acupuncture”
  • BMJ - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2907992/?tool=pubmed
    “Neck Pain – Key Points: Acupuncture may be more effective than some types of sham or inactive treatment at improving pain relief and quality of life at the end of treatment or in the short term. Analgesics, NSAIDs, antidepressants, and muscle relaxants are widely used to treat chronic neck pain, but we don’t know whether they are effective.”
  • BMJ - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15778231
    “The acupuncture group, in turn, had less pain in the evening than the stabilising exercise group” and “Furthermore, the acupuncture group had less pain than the standard treatment group in the morning.”
  • BMJ - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15023830
    “Acupuncture for chronic headache improves health related quality of life at a small additional cost; it is relatively cost effective compared with a number of other interventions provided by the NHS”
  
Book Review

The God Complex is reviewed by TravelNovels.com December 4, 2011


   Travel novels are a great way to turn your trip into an adventure. Novels set in the city or country you plan to visit often describe cultural and historical details not offered in guidebooks, building a context-rich experience before you arrive. No longer will you simply carry the standard guidebook and wander aimlessly amongst the hoards of tourists. Instead, you’ll be dining with locals in the same restaurants frequented by characters in the novel. You will see the street corner where a famous bank robbery happened. Or, you might be sipping coffee in the cafe where a character pieces together a mysterious murder. Your trip will be full of experiences and sights that no other travelers can see because they’ve not had the same literary experience.

Read on the Plane & Take the Tour by Train
A recent twist to this travel staple is Chris Titus’ debut novel, The God Complex… (read more)

 
Radio Interview

Chris is interviewed by Mike and Tammy Wallace, the hosts of Newstalk AM – WFPA 1400 AM (Fort Payne, AL). October 27, 2011


  

American College of TCM

The American College of Traditional Chinese Medicine featured The God Complex in its fall 2011 reading list.