Acupuncture gains momentum in military health care

According to an Army News Service article published June 25, a report released by the Army's surgeon general June 23 recommended more than 100 changes in the Army's health care system. "The Pain Management Task Force's final report, which was initiated by Lt. Gen. Eric B. Schoomaker in August of 2009, addresses the lack of a comprehensive pain management strategy across the Army, and suggests alternative treatments to medication such as acupuncture, meditation, biofeedback and yoga.

Also noted in the report is the fact that pain management has changed very little since the discovery of morphine in 1805. Warner Barracks is one of a few Army health clinics to respond to the pain management strategy with the use of auricular acupuncture for mild Traumatic Brain Injury patients. Auricular acupuncture refers to points located on the ears. "This and further concerns about combining medications in drug therapy have led to an increase in alternative medicine throughout Army health care communities. I believe that the 'spread' going on reflects the fact that more and more physicians are pursuing training in acupuncture," said Lt.Col. Larry R. Patterson, Bamberg Health Clinic commander. "Treatments become more available because of a larger pool of trained physicians."

Dr. Natalia Whitman, a neurologist and medical director of the clinic has seen in past years that this method of treatment would greatly benefit patients suffering from a variety of ailments. Whitman is encouraged by findings published in "The American Family Physician." Volume 80, No. 5, Sept. 1, 2009 reads, "Acupuncture was found to improve headaches and health-related quality of life when added to medical management in patients with chronic daily headache." Multiple doctors at the Landstuhl Regional Medical center are qualified to perform acupuncture and are doing so through the Anesthesia Interventional Pain Management department and have begun utilizing acupuncture or hope to do so in the near future.

Study Links Weight Loss and Acupuncture

Could a few pinpricks make someone thinner? Evidence weighs heavily in favor of that proposition, according to the results of a new study to be presented at the Pacific Symposium in San Diego this week. The groundbreaking study, "The Effects of Acupuncture on Weight-Loss in Over-Weight and Obese Adults Over 24 Years Old," reports that 95 percent of its subjects lost weight in a six-week period after receiving regular acupuncture treatments. Of those subjects, another 50 percent continued to lose weight after treatments stopped. Dr. Edward Lamadrid, a doctor of acupuncture and oriental medicine, conducted the study and authored its findings. Lamadrid has treated thousands of patients with a variety of problems and health conditions, and he has long suspected that acupuncture assists in weight loss. However, it wasn't until this controlled, scientific study that the Chicago-based expert could positively confirm a more formal hypothesis and the positive conclusions.

"What's particularly interesting and somewhat shocking about the study's findings is that weight loss occurred across the board without much exercise or dieting, something everyone believes is essential to trimming down," Lamadrid says. "I certainly don't want to discount the importance of healthy habits such as good fitness and eating nutritionally, but this study confirms that acupuncture is a viable tool for successful weight loss." Key conclusions found that 81 percent of participants in Group A, which received three weeks of acupuncture treatments, lost weight, averaging 2 lbs. per week for men and 1 lb. per week for women. After the treatments ceased, 54 percent continued to lose weight. Meanwhile, 79 percent of those in Group B, the control group, which didn't receive acupuncture, gained weight over the three-week period.

At the end of those three weeks, this control group then received regular acupuncture treatments, and 77 percent then lost weight at a rate similar to Group A. Feedback from the subjects noted significant improvements both physically and emotionally. "Patients understand the importance of preventative medicine and a holistic approach to treatment," Lamadrid says. "This body of evidence on the acupuncture-weight loss link is groundbreaking for the worldwide healthcare and fitness community, considering obesity is now a global epidemic."

Chinese medicine approaches weight gain and obesity as imbalances or irregular functioning of one or more internal organs. All of the body’s organ systems are designed to interact with each other in a dynamic supportive manner. However, there are a variety of pathological conditions that contribute to the breakdown of each organ to operate at its optimal energy state. The key to successful treatment is to identify the key players and treat them at their source. In this way the body is able to resume maintaining its health on its own. 

Meridian Harmonics

Tips for Losing Weight at Home

1. Set the mood Turn up the lighting in your kitchen and dining room. Dim lights make food look more attractive, which encourages binge eating. Music may help curb stress-related eating; it can fill an inner need that might otherwise lead to overeating. Keep your favorite calming song or CD on hand.

2. Go blue Avoid painting the walls red, yellow, and orange in the kitchen and dining areas; these colors may make us hungry! If your walls aren’t blue and repainting is just too much work, use blue silverware, blue plates, napkins, or place mats to help get the same non-hungry effect. Use blue lights in your kitchen or dining room. In a study published in Contract magazine, gala attendees who dined in a blue room ate 33-percent less than those who ate in a yellow or red room. Blue lights make food look less appealing, while warmer colors, especially yellow, have the opposite effect. Fast-food restaurants have known and used this fact for decades, which is why almost all of them have yellowish interiors--they want you to eat more.

3. Downsize Extensive diet research shows that people eat what's put on their plates - even if it's more than they need to satisfy their hunger. If you have huge dinner plates, buy smaller dishes for your home. Buy smaller glasses so you don’t consume too many liquid calories. It’s more difficult to exercise portion control when you’re pouring into a large glass. Use smaller juice glasses and stay away from oversized wine glasses.

4. Stay out of the kitchen Many people talk on the kitchen phone and work at the kitchen table. They're always around food, which increases their likelihood of eating. Just like you sleep better when you don’t work in your bed, you’ll eat better if you don’t work in your kitchen. Don’t confuse the space.

5. Spray lavender on your bed pillows Studies show that natural remedies like lavender can help promote healthy sleep cycles, which in turn may help promote weight loss. People who sleep five hours a night versus the recommended seven to eight hours are 50-percent more likely to be obese.

6. Spray jasmine around the house Peppermint or jasmine scents have been linked to increased energy and alertness. Burn a candle or spray the scent around your home to help boost your energy.

7. Keep simple workout equipment around the house Having dumbbells or a yoga mat sitting around will help keep exercise on your mind. If you’re watching television in the evening and you see your dumbbells, you may be more inclined to pick them up and do a few sets of exercises than if they were hidden away in the closet. Also, if you have stairs, take advantage of them! The average person can burn 105 calories taking the stairs up and down for 15 minutes. If you do that every day for a week you'll burn at least 735 calories.

8. Get rid of "fat clothes" Women often have clothes that span in sizes; this makes it easy to gain weight back because you’re using the wide range of sizes as a safety net. Clean out your closet and get rid of the clothes that are bigger in size.

9. Decorate slim Keep a magazine clipping on your fridge. Use the visual to help you imagine how you will feel when you achieve your goal.

10. Get an App for that!  From a Chinese medical perspective, weight management is all about energy management or in terms of physics, energy conservation. As far as food is concerned, energy is measured in terms of kilo calories or calories, for short. Most people in western society consume in excess of 2500-3500 calories per day. Some folks are consuming close to 4000 or more calories each day. Most adults only need 1800-2000 calories each day for the body to perform its necessary functions. So what happens with all those extra-consumed calories? The body just simply stores them in fatty tissue. So, when a person is consuming 1500 calories a day more than they need, it won't take long for the weight to begin to add up!

One way to monitor calories consumed and calories expended is by using any of the many apps on your smartphone. They're great for storing your commonly consumed foods and your favorite workout and exercises. Many of these apps can keep you informed by emailing you a periodic report! That way you can monitor your daily weight, exercise calories and consumed foods and much more. One of my favorite iPhone apps is Tap & Track. Tap&Track has been recommended in New York Times, as one of the four apps ideal for losing weight! It's also the only paid app in the article and “Users say it's worth every penny!”

Meridian Harmonics

Acupuncture Improves Exercise Tolerance

German cardiology researchers have found that acupuncture can improve exercise tolerance in patients with heart failure.

Their study included 17 patients with congestive heart failure with mild or marked limitation to their activity, all on optimized medication.

Patients were randomized to receive acupuncture or placebo – a needle that simulates the procedure without piercing the skin.

No improvement in cardiac ejection fraction or peak oxygen uptake was seen. But the six minute walk distance was ‘remarkably increased’ in the acupuncture group by 32m on average, compared to a drop of 1m in the placebo group.

Post-exercise recovery and ventilatory efficiency were both improved in the acupuncture group but not in the placebo group.

Study leader Dr Johannes Backs, head of the research group at the department of cardiology of Heidelberg University Hospital, said: ‘This is the first indication that acupuncture may improve exercise tolerance in congestive heart failure (CHF) patients, when given in addition to optimized standard heart failure medication.'

The Science of Chinese Medicine

A major concept of Chinese medicine is Qi, (also chi or ki), pronounced chee. But what is it really? If you ask most acupuncturists or doctors of Oriental medicine, chances are you will receive a wide variety of answers.

Have you ever played the game, where in a large group of people someone whispers a message to the person sitting next to them and the idea is to whisper the exact same message to the next person and so on, until the last person receives the message and in a normal voice tells everyone in the room what the original message was "supposed" to be? Chinese medicine, in many of its major theories and ideas, is very similar to that.

Over the centuries and even thousands of years, early concepts have changed, or more accurately, were mangled, as a result of varying interpretations or translations of the original language and syntax. What this has produced, in our modern culture, is a population of practitioners who have no idea how acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine really work and more importantly, do not know how to intelligently explain the medicine to their patients or inquisitive doctors in other fields (MD's, DO's, DC's, etc.).

Traditional schools of alopathic medicine do an excellent job of preparing doctors. Medical students are extensively taught the hard science of their medicine: organic chemistry, biochemistry, endocrinology, anatomy and physiology. Acupuncture schools do a fairly good job of preparing students to become competent practitioners. Unfortunately, schools of Oriental medicine do a poor job of teaching the hard science of our medicine. This is evident whenever a practitioner of Oriental medicine is asked a technical question and is unable to satisfactorily answer the question. Most likely, this is due to the fact that most Oriental medical school faculties are not trained or have backgrounds rooted in these sciences. When I was in school my classmates and I were taught that Chinese medicine was much different from alopathic medicine and operated under different rules or laws. This is not entirely true. There are universal laws that govern everything in the universe. All matter in the universe must comply with these laws. There are no exceptions. Western medicine and Chinese medicine have unique paradigms, though, the laws that govern both must comply with universal laws. The way for western and eastern medicine to be integrated is through these universal laws.

What's unfortunate is most practitioners do not have a background or education rooted in hard or difficult sciences. In a followup post, I'll discuss the foundational sciences of Chinese medicine and how amazing it is that the ancient doctors of Chinese medicine had extensive knowledge of these sciences and how to apply them to physical, mental and spiritual health.

Improving Vision With Chinese Medicine

Researchers in Hong Kong have found acupuncture to improve the eyesight of children suffering from lazy eye.

Two studies found that a course of acupuncture along with wearing spectacles improved the eyesight in almost 60 per cent of children aged 3 to 6, compared with 14 per cent of those who wore glasses alone.

Lazy eye, or amblyopia, is a condition that affects around 4 per cent of children under 6 worldwide. It occurs because the brain does not acknowledge signals from one eye and, left untreated, can cause loss of vision and depth perception.

It is usually treated by occlusion therapy, covering the good eye with a patch to train the lazy eye, and also with spectacles. The Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences at Chinese University in Hong Kong and Shantou University in southern China did the research, involving 171 children.

In the two clinical trials, two groups of children, aged 3 to 6 and the other aged 7 to 12, were given acupuncture as supplementary or alternative therapy. The needles were applied to five points on the head, ankle and hand five times a week.

In the younger group, an improvement was seen in 57.5 per cent of those who underwent acupuncture within 15 weeks, compared with 14.6 per cent of the children who were treated with spectacles only.

In the older group, an improvement was seen within 25 weeks in 42.1 per cent of those who underwent acupuncture, compared with 30 per cent of those who wore spectacles only.

Professor Dennis Shun-chiu Lam, who led the research, said the acupuncture accelerated the treatment response, improved the overall treatment results and shortened the total treatment duration.

He said the study also opened up the potential use of acupuncture in treating other eye disorders and diseases. In addition to lazy eye, there are acupuncture and herbal strategies for treating such eye disorders as macular degeneration.

The Chemistry Behind Acupuncture For Pain Management

Medical science is getting a better understanding of how acupuncture works, and some of the findings could demonstrate why it works well for many people with fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome. The research revealed that acupuncture activates several biochemical and electromagnetic mechanisms in the body. One of these biochemical mechanisms involves the release of adenosine, which produces an anti-inflammatory affect.

Researchers from the University of Rochester Medical Center say that acupuncture triggers the release of adenosine, a natural painkiller in the body, as well as metabolites of adenosine triphosphate (ATP), which is the major source of cellular energy.

Adenosine blocks pain signals to keep them from being sent to the brain. It's typically released in response to injury. While the acupuncture needle typically causes little or no pain, it damages enough cells to trigger adenosine release.

The results are interesting for sleep and energy, as well as pain. Adenosine is believed to be involved in regulating the sleep cycle, which is typically deregulated in people with fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome. ATP, which was also increased in the study, provides energy for cellular function -- and some studies have suggested that ATP is deficient in people with these illnesses.

After an acupuncture session, patients report feeling less pain, more relaxed and energized. Another side affect is they sleep really well for a night or two, following their treatments.

Acupuncture has been a mainstay of medical treatment in certain parts of the world for over 4,000 years, but because it has not been understood completely, many people have remained skeptical.

Even though the ancient Chinese physicians were unfamiliar with the complex biochemistry of the body, their concept of re-establishing harmony and balance is designed to reflect a variety of changes in order to facilitate the goal of relieving pain or some other internal medical disorder. What’s so amazing is that this ancient medicine does exactly that!

Pulse Matrix Chinese Pulse Diagnosis

Now Available: Pulse Matrix Chinese Pulse Diagnosis
MERIDIAN HARMONICS Announces Revolutionary Pulse Diagnosis

Revolutionary Diagnostic System Invented by Meridian Harmonics

Chinese medicine has steadily been gaining credibility in the United States since the mid 1970's. Unfortunately, most doctors of Oriental medicine are not trained in the "hard science" of this 8000 year old medicine. Why? Because most practitioners and instructors in this field are not trained in the scientific disciplines that comprise the foundational basis for ALL medicine.

Most people do not realize that there are scientific principles and laws governing all matter in the universe. Nothing is exempt, especially medicine. This applies to western and eastern medicine. Both must play by the same rules.

For 13 years Mark Tryling has been studying the primary diagnostic system of Chinese medicine, pulse diagnosis, for a way to merge the concepts of western science with eastern medicine. His new book, for professionals, The Pulse Matrix, describes this system in great detail. He is now using this system, exclusively, with all his patients. A few of the benefits of this system are shown below:

Vascular Efficiency
Spinal Segment Imbalance Relationships to Systemic Organic Disorders
Treatment Strategy Options
Organ Stability and Volatility
Abdominal and Thoracic Cavity Organ Vitality
Endocrine System Imbalances
Organ Toxicity


He is a certified and credentialed CME (Continued Medical Education) Instructor for the Texas Medical Board and will begin teaching this complete system of diagnosis and treatment to other physicians and practitioners this year.

A Message from your acupuncturist:

Patient care is highly individualized. No two patients are considered to be the same in regards to their underlying disease processes or treatment strategies. At Meridian Harmonics, we understand this. As a result we work with each patient to design a treatment program to restore and maximize health and wellness in a timely fashion. Our best patients are those who are embrace the concepts of natural health and wellness, are willing to become educated in this 8000 year old medicine and team up with us in helping them reach their health goals.

D. Mark Tryling, LAC, D. AC, CH

About MERIDIAN HARMONICS
Meridian Harmonics Acupuncture & Oriental Medicine is located in Bedford, Texas. It has been providing patient care since 2001. It provides the three primary disciplines of Chinese medicine: acupuncture, and has a complete Chinese herbal compounding pharmacy to provide herbal solutions to internal medical disorders.

Treating Eczema with Chinese Medicine

An estimated 15 million people in the United States suffer from eczema, which usually looks like dry, scaly red skin patches accompanied by intense itching.
Standard treatment to reduce inflammation and itchiness can include corticosteroids, which have some serious side effects, including cataracts, glaucoma, gastrointestinal effects, hypertension, osteoporosis and weight gain.

A group of German researchers may have an answer to provide relief from the itching. Thirty people with eczema were treated right after being exposed to an allergen such as dust mites or pollen. All patients went through three different test conditions. The first treatment condition was "point-specific" acupuncture targeted at areas designed to treat itchy skin (Quchi and Xuehai points). The second treatment condition was "placebo-point" acupuncture treatment where the points selected were not those used to treat itchy skin. The third test condition was no treatment following allergen exposure.

It turned out that the subjects all reported lower levels of itchiness after receiving the point-specific acupuncture compared to either placebo acupuncture or no treatment. Even more interesting, when they got a second exposure to the allergen after the point-specific acupuncture, their flare-ups were less severe. Lead researcher Dr. Florian Pfab concluded: "Acupuncture at the correct points showed a significant reduction in type I hypersensitivity itch in patients with atopic eczema."

Another similar study was done in Israel two years ago, looking at the effectiveness of herbal medicine and acupuncture in the treatment of atopic dermatitis (the most common form of eczema). In that study, 20 patients between the ages of 13 and 48 were given a combined treatment of herbs and acupuncture three times daily for 12 weeks. All subjects were assessed at weeks 3, 6, 9 and 12. At the end of the 12 weeks, patient assessment of itch improved by 45 percent and quality of life improved by 39 percent. In that second study, the researchers concluded, "The results of this study suggest that the combination of acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine have a beneficial effect on patients with atopic dermatitis."

Many patients have some type of skin problem. Our skin is considered our largest organ and easily manifests internal imbalance, disharmony and toxicities. Depending on the severity and age of the problem, some patients will require a combination of acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine. As with all internal medical conditions, Meridian Harmonics uses the Pulse Matrix™ diagnostic system to determine the correct acupuncture, herbal and dietary treatment strategies for each patient.

Signs & Symptoms of Exterior Pathogenic Cold

Cold is prevalent in winter. It usually attacks the body when the temperature is low and one fails to adapt oneself to the change by dressing properly. Pathogenic Cold may attack the Exterior of the body or invade the interior of the body directly. Diseases in the former case are called affliction of pathogenic Cold, and those in the latter case, direct attack of Cold on the interior.

Pathogenic Cold has the following features:

First, being a Yin pathogen, Cold tends to impair Yang Qi. Cold is the prevalent climate in winter, in which Yin Qi of nature is flourishing, so it is a Yin pathogen. Like attracts like. So Yin of the body will become hyperactive in the case of invasion of Cold and Yang Qi is over-restricted. For example, Cold attacking the Exterior often obstructs Defensive Qi (the immune system), leading to failure of the Exterior to be warmed and resultant chills. Direct attack of Cold on the Spleen and Stomach usually cause Cold pain in the abdomen, watery diarrhea, etc., meaning that Spleen Yang is impaired and its transforming and transporting actions are disturbed.

Second, cold is liable to cause coagulation of Blood and retention of Body Fluids. Blood and body fluids depend on the propelling effect of Yang Qi and a moderate temperature for their free circulation. If Cold invades the body, Yang Qi will be impaired and body temperature will be lowered. So the flow of Blood and Body Fluids will become sluggish, or even coagulated, which is clinically marked by pain. For example, rheumatic arthralgia is marked by Cold pain of the joints, which is usually severe and fixed.

Third, contracting nature of Cold. Cold often leads to inward movement of Qi, contraction of the muscle tissue and convulsion of tendons and vessels. If attacked by pathogenic Cold, the muscle tissue and the sweat pores will be closed, leading to obstruction of Defensive Qi, fever or chills and an absence of sweating. Cold Invasion into the vessels will cause coagulation of Qi and Blood and contraction of the vessels, leading to headache, pantalgia, tense pulse, etc. Inability of the limbs to flex and extend freely or Cold and numbness of the limbs will follow if the Cold attacks the Channels and joints and results in contraction of the tendons and Channels.

Chinese herbal medicine and acupuncture can be used to treat pathogenic Cold preventing it from creating more serious problems.

Meridian Harmonics

Brief History of Traditional Chinese Herbal Medicine

The origin of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) can be traced back to three legendary Emperors/mythical rulers: Fu Xi, Shen Nong, and Huang Di.

Shen Nong and Fu Xi are believed to be early tribal leaders. Fu Xi developed the Yi Jing (I Ching) or Book of Changes.

Shen Nong was known as the "Divine Cultivator" by the Chinese, because he is considered the founder of herbal medicine, and taught people how to farm. In order to determine the nature of different herbal medicines, Shen Nong sampled various kinds of plants, ingesting them himself to test and analyzed their individual effects.

Shen Nong is believed to have tasted a hundred herbs, including 70 toxic substances in a single day, in order to rid people of their illnesses. As there were no written records, the discoveries of Shen Nong were passed down verbally from generation to generation. Many years later, the oldest known book on agriculture and medicinal plants was compiled - Shen Nong Bencao Jing.

In 1578, Li Shizhen completed the Bencao Gangmu, also known as the Compendium of Materia Medica, which has been translated into 20 languages and used as a Chinese herbal reference until today. Clinical diagnosis and treatment in TCM are mainly based on the yin-yang and five elements theories. These theories use natural laws to study of the physiological activities and pathological changes of the human body and its interrelationships.

TCM diagnostics are based on overall observation of human symptoms rather than laboratory tests. There are four types of TCM diagnostic methods: observe, hear and smell, ask questions and palpation.

The diagnostics of an ailment includes its cause, mechanism, location, and nature, and the confrontation between the pathogenic factor and body resistance. Treatment is not based only on the symptoms, but differentiation of specific patterns.

Consequently, those with identical ailments may be treated in different ways, and on the other hand, different ailments may result in the same syndrome and are treated in similar ways.

Acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine comprise one of the oldest organized systems of medicine the world has ever seen (8000 years) and has been used to address nearly every health concern that allopathic medicine traditionally has been treating the last 200 years.

Meridian Harmonics