Acupuncture for Treating Colds and Flus

From Acufinder.com comes and informational article about something we treat a lot of this time of year: colds, flus, and upper respiratory disorders. Acupuncture and herbology are exceptionally useful for preventing and treating these problems provide very satisfying results.

"Acupuncture [helps you] to Get Better Faster - If you have already come down with a cold or the flu, acupuncture treatments can help relieve symptoms you are currently experiencing including chills, fever, body aches, runny nose, congestion, sore throat and cough. While bringing some immediate relief, treatments will reduce the incidence of an upper respiratory tract infection and shorten the length of the illness."

Also see my complete article on Chinese medicine and the flu, and strengthening the immune system.

Acupuncture Indicated for Painful Skin Conditions:

From the Dermatology Times comes an article geared towards physicians which outlines certain painful dermatological skin conditions which respond well to acupuncture. In my practice this is certainly true, though we treat the root cause of the pain as well as the discomfort associated with it. In that way we can often get rid of the urticaria (hives), psoriasis, eczema, post-herpetic pain and shingles.

"The American Academy of Medical Acupuncture has outlined certain conditions for which acupuncture is indicated, some of which include both acute and chronic dermatologic diseases/conditions such as herpes zoster and post-herpetic pain, pruritis, eczema, urticaria and psoriasis. Severe pruritus can be disfiguring and painful and a source of great frustration and anxiety to the affected patient. Mr. Bennett says he has used acupuncture in some of these cases, and has achieved meaningful results in his patients."

Chronic Fatigue responds to Acupuncture

An article reviewing several studies of acupuncture to treat CFS  find much encouragement, including a meta-analysis.

"In December 2009, a meta-analysis of 28 published studies about acupuncture used to treat chronic fatiguesyndrome was published by another Chinese research team. According to the published material, it concluded that acupuncture appears to be effective in treating this particular condition..."

The US Military turns to Acupuncture to Help Our Soldiers

This article in the Statesman cites multiple ways in which the military is beginning to use the skills of acupuncturists. In my clinic we have been seeing veterans of both Gulf wars for many years now and have seen some truly amazing results in treating PTSD and its associated symptoms as well as physical pain. 

"... A combat medic, Bailes returned to Iraq for a second tour in 2005 and came home in 2006 with a different kind of pain: emotional anguish, nightmares and insomnia. He was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, but antidepressants made him feel worse, he said. Again, he turned to acupuncture — and recovered, he said. Now he's studying the more than 2,000-year-old Chinese practice of using hair-thin needles for healing and planning to make it his life's work..."

"..."The military, in many respects, is kind of a front-runner" in using alternative treatments, said Alexandra York, a research associate in military medical research at the Samueli Institute in Alexandria, Va., which studies alternative therapies. "I think it's because of the complexity of the conditions they see. It almost demands that other options be examined..."

Acupuncture and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

From the Temple Daily Telegram comes and article on the Army's use of acupuncture to help treat PTSD in soldiers returning from service in the Gulf and Afghanistan:

"Soldiers returning from combat in the Middle East with post-traumatic stress disorder can opt for some alternative forms of treatment that include acupuncture."

This is something that we have been seeing a lot of in the last few years in my clinic. Happily, acupuncture has been very useful to help with this issue.