Headaches

Duke Univ Study Says Acupuncture Beats Pills for Headache

At last! When acupuncture first publicly arrived on the scene in the US in the 70's, the medical establishment's first concern was to be certain that the 'new' therapy was safe and wouldn't harm the public. After the millennium the safety concerns began to be put aside following a landmark NIH study in 1997 that confirmed acupuncture is safe & effective and encouraged researchers to turn to efficacy.Most of the researchers seem reluctant to verify that acupuncture is highly efficacious, consequently the studies' highest accolades seem to be acknowledging that acupuncture can match western medicine in terms of effectiveness.Duke University has a integrative medical department that is in the forefront of the field. It has recently released a study showing acupuncture is more effective than drugs for…

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Study Shows Acupuncture More Effective for TMJ Than Physical Therapy or Drugs

The spring, 2010, issue of the Journal of Orofacial Pain included a review of studies on the effectiveness of acupuncture for treating TMJ. The study concluded that acupuncture is more effective than physical therapy and medication in treating this disorder, and recommends more larger trials. The review also noted the absence of serious side effects in the acupuncture patients.Here's a video showing a normal temporomandibular joint (hence TMJ)Here's a video of a displaced TMJ that is clicking when it's opening.This video shows a TMJ disc with a thin attatchment.I seen pleasing results with acupuncture in treating TMJ and other facial pain. I've used both standard TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) style of acupuncture, which is most commonly taught in the colleges and being used today, and Dr. Tan's…

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Duke University Says Acupuncture Better than Asprin for Headaches

Duke University reviewed 31 studies to access the effects of acupuncture compared to drugs for the treatment of headache. The researchers found acupuncture is more effective (62%) than medications (45%). Findings were published in Anesthesia & Analgesia.I practice Dr. Tan's Balance Method of acupuncture. Using this method, I expect to dramatically reduce pain on the first visit. Acupuncture is a therapy and a series of treatments is required. The number of treatments needed varies, depending on the individual, and whether the condition is acute or chronic. A course of treatment is 10-12 visits, and generally that is needed to treat a sub-acute condition. Chronic conditions take longer to treat.All types of pain, including headache respond remarkably well to acupuncture. It is a shame more people are not…

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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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Studies Show Acupuncture More Effective than Drugs for Headaches

In a December 2008 two doctors from the Department of Anesthesiology at Duke University Medical Center published the results of their systematic review of 25 studies on the use of acupuncture for treatment of headaches in Anesthesia and Analgesia. The authors concluded that acupuncture is more effective than drug therapy in relieving headaches. Here's a short NY Time's piece on their work. KB

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