Apr 23

Acupuncture for runners

Acupuncture No Comments »


Acupuncture for runners and athletes:

What’s the idea?

It is thought that the needles stimulate the brain to release endorphins, boosting mood and relieving tiredness, and trigger the immune system to help to ward off injuries, soreness and joint pain. Several small studies have suggested that it works for runners. One published last year in the journal Chinese Medicine found “significant differences” in muscle soreness among those who had acupuncture during an exhaustive training regimen compared with those who didn’t.

Who uses it?

The marathon superwoman, Paula Radcliffe, admits to being a fan. Athletes in other sports, including the tennis player Maria Sharapova, also use it.

Apr 23

Allergy treatments derived from Chinese herbs

Alternative therapies, Disease, Food No Comments »

Researchers are looking at Chinese herbs to develop treatments for food allergies, a growing problem in children:

•Food allergy herbal formula-2. Known as FAHF-2, this pill (not available in stores) is based on a 2,000-year-old Chinese remedy. It contains nine botanicals, including ginseng and oil made from cinnamon tree bark. It is being tested for peanut, tree nut, fish and shellfish allergies.

Building tolerance can take a year or more, and parents with children in the studies must drive them to a research center every other week. For a few, the round trip is hundreds of miles — a small price, in parents’ eyes.

“They will do anything humanly possible” to overcome their children’s food allergies, says Stacie Jones (no relation to Charles Jones), an Arkansas Children’s Hospital allergy specialist who helps lead several trials. “It is a testament to their commitment.”

Apr 23

Arthritis relief with Chinese herbs and acupuncture

Acupuncture, Disease No Comments »

An interesting Chinese medicine perspective on arthritis:

Arthritis is known in Chinese medicine as ‘’Bi’’ syndrome, Bi meaning painful obstruction. We say it is the result of the body being ‘’invaded’’ by external climatological factors such as wind, cold, heat and/or dampness. The symptoms manifested by the individual depend on which external pathogenic factor is strongest. Following is a listing of the four main patterns of Bi syndrome.

Wind Bi: Exposure to wind for prolonged time is an important cause of the Wind pattern of arthritis. Any Wind pattern is characterised by movement of symptoms hence its alternative name wandering Bi, last week it was shoulder pain, this week it’s the knees. There is joint soreness and pain which can move from joint to joint. Joint movement is limited, and there is often fever, as well as aversion to wind or windy weather.

Cold Bi: Joints which are cold to touch and frequently swollen too are referred to as cold Bi. With this type of By, the pain has a fixed location rather than moving about. One can get relief from applying heat to the area and exposure to cold will definitely aggravate the condition. Damp Bi: The damp pattern of arthritis is characterised by pain, soreness and swelling in muscles and joints, with a feeling of heaviness and numbness in the limbs. The pain has a fixed location and is aggravated by damp weather. When these patients move to a hot dry climate they often feel better.

Hot Bi: This type of Bi is commonly seen in Rheumatoid arthritis and gouty arthritis. It is characterised by severe pain and hot-red-swollen joints. Pain tends to be worse at night. Other symptoms may include fever thirst and anxiety.

I have classified arthritis into nice neat groups, in clinical practice it is not really like that and I would often see joint pain which is a mixture, in fact this tends to be the norm rather than the exception. Different types of arthritis respond different to acupuncture. However acupuncture is an excellent treatment choice for all types of arthritis because arthritis is characterised by obstruction and acupuncture moves obstruction!

More and more scientifically designed clinical studies support the use of acupuncture for arthritis. A recent study examined the effects of acupuncture on 32 osteoarthritis patients waiting for knee replacement surgery. After 9 weeks, patients receiving acupuncture treatment reported a decrease in pain, while pain increased in untreated patients. The patients with acupuncture treatment were able to walk farther and faster, compared to the untreated group.

Success of the treatment depends also on how effectively acupuncture can re-harmonise the body. It the arthritis is very deep-seated then at best, acupuncture may be able to offer pain relief and help the disease from progressing further. If the systemic imbalance is not so severe, then acupuncture may be able to offer a cure.

Apr 14

A tutorial in Asian healing arts

Culture No Comments »

This is an interesting article in Chinese healing arts in Taiwan and Hong Kong.

In Hong Kong and Taiwan, foreigners can learn how Asian medicine uses herbs and other ingredients to fight illness.

Reporting from Hong Kong and Taipei, Taiwan, — The world is divided into two categories: those who get the flu, and those who don’t. Not only did I fall into the former, but it happened a week before my scheduled departure for Taiwan and Hong Kong. “Nobody goes to Hong Kong with the flu,” said my husband, Paul.

Achy and exhausted, I had feverish nightmares about the “C” word (cancel); I had never backed out of a trip in my life. It was touch-and-go until the last minute . . . and then it became go.

Apr 07

Preventing the flu

Disease, Herbs No Comments »

Chinese herbs can be an effective way to prevent the flu:

If acupuncture is not your cup of tea, a literal cup of tea may be just what the doctor ordered to prevent the flu.

Chinese herbal medicine is the oldest form of alternative medicine, with written records dating back nearly 3,000 years.

“Back in the old days of herbal medicine the doctors used themselves as guinea pigs to learn the affects of different herbs,” Jones said. “Those fellows had cast iron stomachs.”

During the course of his studies, Jones learned the properties of thousands of medicinal herbs. He discovered how to blend herbs according to the size and strength of the person and the condition being treated. He’s a firm believer in the use of herbs and vitamins to prevent the flu and other illness.

“To prevent the flu, use herbs that bolster the immune system,” Jones said.

Although there are dozens of herbs that boost immunity, two are especially noteworthy:

Used for thousands of years, certain healing properties of the Chinese herb Huang qi ( astragalus membranaceus root) are being confirmed by western medical science methods.

Recent research has confirmed that astragalus contains antioxidants and has antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties. It lowers blood pressure and increases endurance in some situations. The chemical properties of astragalus have been studied and the herb shows promise in enhancing immunity in HIV sufferers.

Chinese ren shen, or ginseng, is a common root that enhances healing and rejuvenation. It helps to replenish body fluids and depleted energy. Ginseng also helps to remove toxins from the body.

“Despite being an ancient practice, herbal medicine is extremely precise and will help a person to avoid getting sick because herbs can help to build up the immune system,” Jones said. “It’s best to start using the herbs months before, but it’s never too late to start building yourself up for the next onslaught.”

Apr 07

Chinese herbs show promise for cancer treatments

Disease, Herbs No Comments »

Ganoderma, a Chinese herb used in some medicines shows promise in treating lung cancer:

The Chinese herb Ganoderma kills small-cell lung cancer cells that are resistant to many chemotherapy drugs, and it may prove a life-saving addition to current cancer therapy, according to a new study in Cancer Letters.

Small-cell lung cancer is particularly difficult to treat because the cancer spreads rapidly throughout the body, rather than forming large tumors that can be removed surgically. To treat this cancer, doctors typically turn to chemotherapy, which attacks cancer cells throughout the body.

Chemotherapy can have severe side effects though, because it attacks healthy cells as well as cancerous ones. And over time, lung cancer can become resistant to the effects of chemotherapy, rendering it virtually ineffective. “The chemotherapy would still work, but you’d have to use a dose that would be so toxic that the patient could not tolerate it,” explains lead study author David Sadava, PhD, Pritzker Foundation Professor of Biology at the Keck Science Center in Claremont, California and Adjunct Professor in the Department of Molecular Medicine at the City of Hope Cancer Center in Duarte, California.

Patients who have been told their cancer is not treatable often turn to alternative therapies, including herbs. The mushroom extract Ganoderma lucidum is one of the most popular of these herbs. It is widely available in health food stores as the Japanese herbal remedy, Reishi and the Chinese herb, Ling Zhi.

Ganoderma lucidum has been studied for its effects on leukemia, as well as on cancers of the breast, bladder, colon, and prostate. For the first time, Dr. Sadava and his team set out to investigate its effects on small-cell lung cancer. They also decided to look at 20 of the more than 250 other Ganoderma species in existence, to see if they too might have a benefit.

The researchers took extracts of these herbs and tested them on three different types of cells: drug-sensitive small-cell lung cancer, drug-resistant small-cell lung cancer, and normal lung cells. They discovered that Ganoderma lucidum, as well as eight other Ganoderma species killed lung cancer cells. Cancer cells responded to the herb much in the same way as they would react to chemotherapy drugs. Yet unlike chemotherapy drugs, which can also be toxic to healthy cells, herbal extracts were more deadly to cancer cells than to normal cells, indicating that they have some ability to specifically target cancer.

 
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