City of Portland Gets an Acupuncture Treatment: Public Arts Project

Here's something wild and crazy: the City of Portland is getting an acupuncture treatment through a new public arts project. The project hopes using mammoth acupuncture "Needles appearing across the city will bring attention to the some of the city's most challenging problems, greatest assets, as well as places with enormous potential.“Using the body as a metaphor for the entire city, Kuby hopes to identify those places in the landscape that are important to us as a community, drawing attention not only to the significance of each focal point but also to the interconnectedness of them to each other as well as to ourselves.” Susan Anderson Director, Portland Bureau of Planning & Sustainabilityhttp://acuportland.org/home.htmlPortland has 2 acupuncture colleges and more than 500 acupuncturists in a 3 county area.…

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White-Coat Hypertension is 50% Predictive of Developing Sustained Hypertension

In the Really? column in this week's Science Times (NY Times) Anahad O'Conner discusses white-coat hypertension, the so-called phenomenon that patients with 'normal' blood pressure (normotension) will show abnormally high readings in the doctor's office due to increased anxiety in a medical setting. The high readings have been dismissed when the patients blood pressure is normal outside of the doctor's office, or at home.As a practitioner of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) I have felt that these high readings are information about how the patients body reacts to stress and anxiety. If the blood pressure goes up in the doctors office, then it also goes up in other circumstances when the patient is under stress. I have felt this patient should be treated to address the condition.Well apparently…

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For Safety and Maximum Effectiveness See a Licensed Acupuncturist

In order to be preformed safely an effectively, acupuncture must be preformed by a qualified practitioner with adequate training in Chinese medicine. Unfortunately MD's and chiropractors have been allowed to add acupuncture as a modality in their practices after taking only a few weekend seminars in it, totally 100-300 hours. Considering that Licensed Acupuncturist now must complete 3000-4000 hours of training in order to become licensed, it is inconceivable that states would consider 100-300 adequate training for practicing on patients. Those that are poorly trained make mistakes ranging from ineffective treatment to injuries to patients.A study by the Institute of Community Medicine, University of Tromso, Norway about acupuncture safety concludes:"Most adverse effects of acupuncture seem to rely on insufficient basic medical knowledge, low hygienic standard, and inadequate…

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Fox News Interviews Kath Bartlett, MS, LAc About Allergy Treatment

"Do you ever google yourself?" I was asked last week. "It's been a long time", I replied. "Mostly professional stuff comes up: my website, blog, articles I've written and so on".With this conversation in mind, i put my name in the search box, and hit enter. The expected hits came up. As I scrolled through them I came across an interview I did with Fox News several years ago for an article on allergy treatment using Chinese Medicine. I believe the article was (at least in part) ghostwritten. Manny Alvarez was given the byline, but it was a woman who interviewed me that spring morning.This is a thoughtfully written article first explaining some basics about TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) theory and terminology, then going into the the…

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Duke University Uses Acupuncture Anesthesia During Surgery

NBC video ran an interesting report about Duke University's use of acupuncture anesthesia during surgery. Duke has a large, respected integrative medicine department, and I'm always pleased to learn what comes out of it. Acupuncture anesthesia has been used in China for many years. Needles are put in the ear and at various points on the body. In his 1980's 4 part PBS special "Healing in the Mind", Bill Moyer devoted one segment to China, showing an open heart surgery using acupuncture for part of the anesthesia. Typically 30-50% less anesthesia is used. In the video, the patient is lucid and incredibly able to talk and answer basic questions (name, where are you, what is happening) during surgery. A screen was up below his head so that…

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Wall Street Journal Gives Acupuncture the Green Light

This week's Wall Street Journal features a much awaited article praising acupuncture and hypothesizing how it might work from a western scientific point of view.http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704841304575137872667749264.htmlIt also includes a couple of 2 minute videos showing an acupuncture treatment:http://online.wsj.com/video/testing-acupuncture/C66816BC-2110-402B-B254-61668040B9D0.htmlAnd another discussing acupuncture, what it does and how it might work:http://online.wsj.com/video/news-hub-unraveling-acupuncture/9505EDF3-A422-42F0-94A5-B930E3999267.htmlThis is a favorable article about acupuncture, discussing it's value and a few of it's uses. For a larger list of many of the conditions acupuncture effectively treats, please visit the Resources of my website www.AcupunctureAsheville.com KB

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Beat the Winter Blues

This has been quite a winter in Asheville. I've been hearing many complaints about all the snow, cold and cloudy weather, and about how everyone is ready for spring. It's almost here. Personally, I've enjoyed this winter, and all the snow and cold. I've used this as a time to stay indoors, and enjoy yin activities, such as taking long Epsom salt baths (so soothing on aching muscles, backs and joints), reading and meditation. Often I combine all 3: reading and meditating in the bath tub: delicious. And when I say a long bath, I mean several hours. I fall asleep and wake up because the tub's cold.Another precaution I've taken to guard against the winter blues is to change out all my light bulbs in my…

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