News from the Field

Abstract

Medical Acupuncture now Listed on Pubmed

The titles, authors, and abstracts of articles published in Medical Acupuncture are now listed and searchable in PubMed. Editor-in-Chief Richard C. Niemtzow, MD, PhD, MPH, encourages readers to submit their most exciting new research and clinical-management strategies for possible publication in the journal. www.liebertpub.com/acu

AAMA Offers Fall Workshop

The American Academy of Medical Acupuncture (AAMA) will hold a 2-day workshop “Treating Common Musculoskeletal Conditions with Osteopathic Manipulation, Meridian Therapy, Dry Needling and Manual Muscle Testing,” on October 24–25, 2020, in Chicago. Jay Sandweiss, DO, FAAMA, in Ann Arbor, MI, and Joseph Audette, MD, MA, an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School in Boston and chief of pain management at Atrius Health and Harvard Vanguard, will present the workshop, offering a highly effective approach for diagnosing and treating common musculoskeletal problems. www.medicalacupuncture.org/2020-Fall-Workshop

Call for Articles about COVID-19 and Acupuncture

Medical Acupuncture has issued a call for papers for a special issue focusing on how acupuncture and auricular medicine can be used to treat a variety of internal medicine–related conditions and COVID-19. The guest editors will be Arnyce Pock MD, at the Uniformed Services University, in Bethesda, MD; Im Quah-Smith, MD, at the Royal Womens' Hospital, Randwick in Sydney, Australia; and Songxuan Zhou Niemtzow, MD (China), LAc, at Joint Base Andrews, MD. Manuscripts must be received by August 31, 2020. https://home.liebertpub.com/cfp/special-issue-on-acupuncture-and-internal-medicine/217/

Acupuncture and COVID-19 Guidance

The China Association of Acupuncture–Moxibustion in China released, in the World Journal of Acupuncture-Moxibustion, information about Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) in the treatment of COVID-19. Wei-hong Liu, and colleagues at the Institute of Acupuncture and Moxibustion, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, in Beijing, reported that, when TCM was used, more people were cured of the novel coronavirus infection, severe cases declined, more patients were discharged from the hospital, and spread of the virus decreased. The organization reported that acupuncture could be used with medications and herbal products during the acute phase of COVID-19 and in the recovery stage. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7118592/

Winners of AAMA Research Competition Announced

The paper “Acupuncture for Pediatric Sickle Cell Pain Management: A Promising Non-Opioid Therapy” received first-place honors in the American Academy of Medical Acupuncture's (AAMA) 2020 Research Competition. Shiu-Lin Tsai, MD, was the lead author. Dr. Tsai stated that the research team received a $1,500 award, which they gifted to the Department of Emergency Medicine at Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY, “to encourage and support the heroic work by all the staff there through this COVID-19 pandemic.” The team plans to record a presentation about the study to share with academy members through the organization's website. The second-place article was “The Feasibility of Blinding with Intraoperative Electro Auricular Acupuncture for Analgesia After ACL Surgery: A Randomized Controlled Trial.” The third place article was “Pilot Study: Physical Examination of Acupuncture Principal Meridian Coupling.” www.medicalacupuncture.org/For-Physicians/Research-Information

COVID-19 Support Registry Announced

The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine (JACM) announced a call to action to create the Traditional, Complementary and Integrative Health and Medicine Support Registry, housed on a secure server at the Helfgott Research Institute in Portland, OR. Goals include determining characteristics of care, acknowledging contributions of integrative practitioners to COVID-19 management and risk reduction, providing data about promising and potentially harmful treatments, and moving governments toward integrative practice. Ryan Bradley, ND, MPH, the director of the Helfgott Research Institute and an associate editor of JACM, serves as the principal investigator. Multiple acupuncture-based organizations are participating. The registry collects longitudinal data so that practitioners can return to the registry via a survey access code and update information, such as outcomes, while patients/clients remain under their care. www.liebertpub.com/doi/10.1089/acm.2020.29083.jjw

Clinical Trial to Assess Acupuncture for mTBI-Related Headaches

Amanda A. Herrmann, PhD, at HealthPartners Neuroscience Research in Saint Paul, MN, serves as the principal investigator on a clinical trial to determine the effect of a low versus a high dose of acupuncture treatment in individuals with chronic post-traumatic headache. People with mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) suffering from chronic post-traumatic headache will be enrolled in the study to receive acupuncture treatments for 5 weeks. Participants with mTBI-related headaches will be randomized into 2 groups: (1) a “low acupuncture” group, receiving 5 treatments and (2) a “high acupuncture group” receiving 10 treatments. It is hypothesized that both treatment groups will have decreased headaches, but that 10 treatments will alleviate the headaches more than the 5 treatments will. The researchers plan to enroll 36 participants and complete the study (Clinical Trial ID: NCT04369911) in November of 2022. https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04369911?recrs=abdf&cond=acupuncture&draw=3&rank=20

Acupuncture Helpful for Reducing Migraines

Manual acupuncture can help prevent migraines that do not produce auras, according to a study in The British Medical Journal. Shabei Xu, at Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, in Wuhan, China, was the lead author, who described the multicenter, randomized controlled trial, involving 150 acupuncture-naïve patients. Participants received 20 sessions of either verum manual acupuncture or nonpenetrating sham acupuncture for 8 weeks. Patients in the verum-acupuncture cohort experienced significant decreases in migraine days at weeks 13–20 and reductions in migraine attacks in weeks 17–20. Manual acupuncture might prove helpful to patients who do not want to use prophylactic drugs or in whom those drugs have not proved helpful. www.bmj.com/content/368/bmj.m697

Acupuncture Helpful for Fibromyalgia Care

A single-blinded, randomized controlled trial in Spain compared 3 groups—(1) acupuncture; (2) core stability physical therapy; and (3) no intervention—for treating women with fibromyalgia and balance impairment. Elisa María Garrido-Ardila and colleagues at the University of Extremadura in Badajoz, Spain, reported in Clinical Rehabilitation that participants receiving acupuncture or physical therapy experienced improvements in balance and postural control. Improvements in functional capacity were not statistically significant. https://journals-sagepub-com-s.web.bisu.edu.cn/doi/abs/10.1177/0269215520911992?journalCode=crea

Curbside Acupuncture During COVID-19 Crisis

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Evolution Rejuvenation, in Pembroke Pines and Boca Raton, FL, is offering curbside acupuncture for treating people with high levels of stress, fear, anxiety, depression, and insomnia. The treatments promote relaxation. Five sterile acupuncture needles will be placed in each participant's ears and retained for 15–25 minutes, while the person waits in the car. Health care providers and first responders can receive the acupuncture treatments for free. There is a small fee, $25, for the general population. www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/evolution-rejuvenation-offering-curbside-acupuncture-during-covid-19-crisis-301049904.html

Acupuncture Benefits Cancer Survivors with Insomnia

Both acupuncture and cognitive behavioral therapy improved cognitive function in cancer survivors with insomnia, according to a study in Cancer. Kevin T. Liou, MD, at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, NY, was the lead author, describing the randomized clinical trial with 160 participants. A significant link between sleep and cognitive outcomes was observed in people receiving acupuncture. The researchers suggest that additional study is needed to guide management of patients with cancer who have cognitive impairments. https://acsjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/cncr.32847

Acupuncture and Antihypertensives Reduce BP

Among patients receiving home health care, addition of acupuncture to antihypertensive drugs may be more beneficial for reducing blood pressure (BP) than the drugs alone, according to an article in The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine. Kuei-Yu Huang, at the Division of Chinese Medicine, Shin Kong Wu Ho-Su Memorial Hospital in Taipei, Taiwan, was the lead author, describing the randomized controlled trial involving 70 elderly participants with hypertension receiving home care. All patients took antihypertensive drugs. Half of these patients also received a 30-minute acupuncture session twice per week for 12 weeks. Acupuncture points SP 10, SP 6, LR 3, ST 36, and LI 4 were used bilaterally. www.liebertpub.com/doi/10.1089/acm.2019.0172

Expert Spotlight

Iman Majd, MD, LAc, DABMA, at the University of Washington Factoria Clinic in Bellevue, and a member of the American Academy of Medical Acupuncture, was named chair of the Board of Commissioners for the National Certification Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine.

Elizabeth Sebestyen, MD, FAAMA, of Centennial, CO, completed the 10-year American Board of Medical Acupuncture recertification process and will remain a Diplomate for another decade.

Ting Bao, MD, DABMA, MS, an integrative-medicine specialist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, NY, was the lead author of a Research Letter in JAMA Network Open about a pilot clinical trial that found acupuncture effective for relieving the pain of chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy.

Rick Soordhar, DDS, presented a live webcast “An Introduction to the Evaluation and Treatment of TMJ Disorders Utilizing a Neuroanatomical Acupuncture Approach” in May 2020 for the American Academy of Medical Acupuncture.