Acupuncture Detoxification

A one year acupuncture detoxification program study in Portland, Oregon showed that

1. People who received acupuncture detoxification treatment were twice as likely to continue in rehabilitation therapy than people who did not receive acupuncture treatment.

2. Recidivism of alcohol and drug addicts decreased from 20-25% to 5% for patients receiving acupuncture.

Acupuncture for Pulmonary Disease

In the debut issue of the US published Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, Dr. Kim Jobst of Oxford University has evaluated 16 papers on the use of acupuncture in pulmonary disease.

Acupuncture had been found to be effective in 4 of 8 double-blind studies, 3 of 5 single-blind studies, and 3 of 3 unblinded studies, with an overall effective rate of 62.5%. However, Dr. Jobst re-evaluated those studies where the effectiveness of specifically selected acupuncture points were judged against selection of ’sham’ acupuncture points.

‘Sham’ points can be of two kinds – sham true points and sham nonpoints. He found that a) sham nonpoints, i.e. sites that did not correlate to any existing acupuncture point, nevertheless had significant subjective and objective effects on pulmonary diseases, and that b) the sham true points selected for control in other studies were in fact points that, according to TCM, did have effect in some respiratory diseases. By assessing the effectiveness of any kind of needling in the 16 studies (whether true points, sham true points or sham nonpoints were used), the overall effective rate rose to 81%. In 10 of the 11 (91%) studies which evaluated it, it was found that medication could be significantly reduced by acupuncture.

Dr. Jobst concludes that acupuncture is a safe and effective treatment for patients with bronchial asthma and chronic obstructive lung disease.

Acupuncture and Eyes

Japanese researchers from the ophthalmology department at Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine have demonstrated that acupuncture applied to various hand points can improve blood flow to the retinal artery. The retinal blood flow increased significantly in volume, velocity and in number of blood cells.

What is Moxibustion?

Moxa is a dried natural Chinese herb also known as mugwort or artemesia. This herb is heated and placed on specific areas of the body. The warmth generated is used to improve blood circulation and thus eliminate pain, as well as protect against colds and flu by boosting immunity, and strengthening the body. Some clinics use new breakthrough technology, without smoke, odor or ash, to produce remarkable results through this advanced herbal heat therapy.