Posted by DAAN on October 7, 2007 under Acupuncture, General | 
There are many different types of alternative treatments. According to this article, acupuncture is particularly good for pain and post surgical nausea:
” Americans spend billions of dollars each year on alternative medicine, everything from chiropractic care to hypnosis.
Weil says alternative medicine can work wonders — acupuncture, certain herbs, guided imagery.
For example, Dr. Brian Berman, director of the Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, has done a series of studies showing acupuncture’s benefits for osteoarthritis of the knee.
Extensive studies have also been done on mind-body approaches such as guided imagery, and on some herbs, including St. John’s wort.
But on the other hand, there also is a lot of quackery out there, Weil says. “I’ve seen it all, [including] products that claim to increase sexual vigor, cure cancer and allay financial anxiety.”
So how do you know what works and what doesn’t when it comes to alternative medicine? Just a decade ago, there weren’t many well-done, independent studies on herbs, acupuncture, massage or hypnosis, so patients didn’t have many facts to guide them.
But in 1999, eight academic medical centers, including Harvard, Duke and Stanford, banded together with the purpose of encouraging research and education on alternative medicine. Eight years later, the Consortium of Academic Health Centers for Integrative Medicine has 38 member universities, and has gathered evidence about what practices have solid science behind them.
Here, from experts at five of those universities, are five alternative medicine practices that are among the most promising because they have solid science behind them.
1. Acupuncture for pain
Hands, down, this was the No. 1 recommendation from our panel of experts. They also recommended acupuncture for other problems, including nausea after surgery and chemotherapy.”
Posted by DAAN on under Culture, General |
Interesting article on Qi and the health benefits of Qi Gong, a Chinese martial art:
” Qigong practices can be classified into two main categories according to the training methods, Nei Dan (Internal Elixir) and Wai Dan (External Elixir).
Internal Elixir (Nei Dan) focuses on building the energy from inside the body, stored like the battery of the body. It uses gentle movements to lead and manifest qi to flow along the meridians, then out through the internal organs and the whole body.
External Elixir (Wai Dan) uses more vigorous movements to build qi in the arms and legs. When enough qi is accumulated, it will flow thru the body’s meridian system inwards to nourish the internal organs.
Schools of qigong practice
There are many schools of Qigong practice; they can be classified into four major categories according to the purposes of training:
1. Medical qigong – for healing, both self-healing and to heal others.
2. Scholar qigong – for maintaining health.
3. Martial arts qigong – for enhancing power in fighting.
4. Religious qigong – for spiritual enlightenment.
In terms of style, there are thousands of different styles. Each has its main objectives and purposes; some may serve more than one of the above.
Medical qigong is primarily oriented towards self-healing as well as healing others. Individuals highly skilled in the art are known as medical qigong Masters. Medical qigong Masters can consciously channel the flow of healthy qi energy to a sick individual, even at a distance. They can supply qi to areas of a sick person’s body that may be low in qi energy.
Conversely, they can also draw out excess qi away from the body regions that are “oversupplied” or “stagnant”.
Qi is energy which fills the universe. The Chinese believe there are Heaven (Sky) qi, Earth qi and Human qi. Human Qi refers to the qi within all living person, animals and plants.
This vital energy within our body can be used for health and self-healing. The circulation of qi is directed by our mind, known as Yi (Mind, Thought or Will).
Qi is energy, a bio-electromagnetic force within oneself and is constantly interacting with the outside forces of Heaven qi and Earth qi. Our alignment to these forces is important. Our body always seeks to balance the qi when it is out of balance or weak. “
Posted by DAAN on October 1, 2007 under Culture, Immune system |
An interesting study that suggests Tai Chi may be useful in strengthening the immune system and preventing shingles:
“Tai chi is already known as a good low-impact exercise for older people. Now a recent study suggests it offers benefits beyond improving fitness and balance: It may help prevent shingles, a painful skin condition.
Researchers found older people who performed the slow, graceful movements of tai chi had a better immune response against the virus that causes shingles than those who only got health education, according to the most rigorous test to date.
It’s unclear how tai chi, an ancient Chinese martial art that has become increasingly popular in the West, affects the immune system. But health experts were encouraged by the positive results.
“The message is that older people need to maintain healthy behavior,” said Andrew Monjan of the National Institute on Aging, which helped fund the research. “It’s nothing that our mothers haven’t told us, but we’re seeing it certainly holds up to scientific inquiry.”
The study appeared in the April issue of the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society and was led by Dr. Michael Irwin of UCLA.
Shingles is a painful skin rash that can pop up in people who have had chickenpox. The chickenpox virus can remain dormant in the body and resurface as shingles years later. It usually starts with pain and itching on the skin that later turns into an irritating rash.
An estimated 1 million Americans are afflicted with shingles every year and it commonly occurs in people 50 years old and older.
The UCLA study involved 112 healthy adults, ages 59 to 86, who have had previous cases of chickenpox.
Half of them took tai chi classes three times a week for three months and the rest attended health education classes where they were taught good diet habits and stress management. Then both groups were vaccinated with a chickenpox vaccine. Researchers took periodic blood tests before and after vaccination to determine their level of immunity against shingles.
After six months, the tai chi group had nearly twice the level of immunity against shingles than the education group.”
Posted by DAAN on under Acupuncture, Herbs |
Acupuncture can be used for a variety of ailments:
“Acupuncture alleviates pain and improves movement for patients suffering from it [arthritis], whether it is arthritis of the knee, hip, shoulder, hand or back. The effectiveness applies to both rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and osteoarthritis (OA) conditions, and treatments focus on controlling the painful symptoms as well as balancing the immune system. The majority of our patients see immediate results after just a few treatments and experience positive long-term benefits in combination with Chinese formulas and regular exercise.
…
Regular acupuncture combined with Chinese herbs can have a positive effect on gastrointestinal motility. The treatment will either be used to relax a more spastic colon or to stimulate peristalsis. Within the concepts and theories of TCM, there is a more complete method of interpreting digestive disorders. When someone has stool that is very dry or stubborn to pass, herbs will be given to moisten the intestines and long-term treatment will focus on re-establishing a moister digestive environment. When someone has chronic, explosive diarrhea that burns or causes other pain, acupuncture will help calm the large intestine and herbs will be administered to remove toxins such as bacteria or viruses and to clear heat from the digestive system. Likewise, when someone experiences chronic watery painless diarrhea, acupuncture will be used to tonify the digestive system and herbs will be administered to warm the digestion so that food is transformed into usable energy more efficiently.”
