Acupressure App – Does it really alleviate menstrual cramps?
The media is abuzz over a study reporting that use of a cell phone app to train women in self-acupressure is effective as pain medication for treating menstrual cramps.
The Android app is called AKUD and is written in German, so unless du sprichst Deutch, it won’t do you much good. But let’s ignore that for now. Here’s the study intervention:
The study intervention
Participants received a menstrual tracking App that included instructions on acupressure for cramp relief. They also got one-on-one instruction on the location of specific acupressure points and use of acupressure using drawings and video. Th...
Source: The Blog That Ate Manhattan - December 12, 2017 Category: Primary Care Authors: Margaret Polaneczky, MD Tags: Alternative Medicine Women's Health app cell phone menstrual cramps Source Type: blogs
What to do for stubborn low back pain
A while back, I covered the updated evidence-based treatment guidelines for acute (less than four weeks) and subacute (less than twelve weeks) low back pain. I promised a post on chronic (more than twelve weeks) back pain.
Well, as I write this, I am suffering from a recurrence of my own low back pain, which radiates down my right leg at times. This has been literally and figuratively a pain in my rear end, for years.
Being a doctor who practices what I preach, I am putting all the advice I dispense to good use.
First, look for possible triggers
This fall, I had gotten away from my regular core-strengthening routine (night...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - December 7, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Monique Tello, MD, MPH Tags: Back Pain Health Pain Management Source Type: blogs
Lowering the bar for traditional Chinese medicine for ideology and profit
In the 1950s, Chairman Mao Zedong began the "integration" of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) into real medicine. Last year, the Chinese government passed a bill to promote the sale of TCM products. This. year, we see what that means.
The post Lowering the bar for traditional Chinese medicine for ideology and profit appeared first on RESPECTFUL INSOLENCE. (Source: Respectful Insolence)
Source: Respectful Insolence - December 7, 2017 Category: Surgery Authors: Orac Tags: Medicine Politics Quackery acupuncture Chairman Mao China featured Mao Zedong traditional Chinese medicine Source Type: blogs
Don ’t let the opioid crisis affect the treatment course for your patients
Mrs. Smith is an 81-year-old female. She worked a long time doing very physical work and is now on a fixed income and comes to my office with chronic pain. X-rays show she has degenerative arthritis in her hips, knees and lumbar spine. She has taken Norco twice a day for years and has been able to be very stable on this. She has always been compliant with her medications. She has not lost them or had them stolen. She lives with her husband, and they use a safe where they keep their medications. The patient has done well with acupuncture and massage in the past but is not able to afford these, and her insurance doesn’...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - November 21, 2017 Category: General Medicine Authors: < a href="https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/post-author/t-j-matsumoto" rel="tag" > T.J. Matsumoto, PA-C < /a > Tags: Meds Pain Management Primary Care Source Type: blogs
First Electronic Device for Opioid Withdrawal Therapy Approved by FDA
The FDA has given a regulatory green light to the first device that reduces opioid withdrawal symptoms. The NSS-2 Bridge from Innovative Health Solutions, a Versailles, Indiana firm, is stuck to the skin behind the ear and relies on four electrodes that are attached around the ear. The electrodes are used to deliver electric current to a set of occipital and cranial nerves (V, VII, IX, and X), hopefully helping addicts to avoid agitation, insomnia, and other symptoms of kicking opioids. The same device was approved by the FDA three years ago for use in acupuncture and the current approval went under the de novo review pro...
Source: Medgadget - November 15, 2017 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Editors Tags: Medicine Neurology Pain Management Psychiatry Source Type: blogs
The cost of chronic pain
There is a saying that being poor is expensive. From personal experience, I know this to be true. But I think it also needs to be said that, especially in the United States, chronic illness can be quite expensive as well. In fact, there is a huge intersection between poverty and disability/illness. As with many intersections, it is a chicken-or-egg scenario, difficult to determine which is begetting which. But one thing is clear: there are often blind spots about these expenses in the medical community and how they can impact chronically ill people already struggling with finances.
Recently I attended a seminar on the topi...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - November 10, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Laura Kiesel Tags: Health Health care Health policy Pain Management Source Type: blogs
Nanoporous Needles May Significantly Boost Effectiveness of Acupuncture
Acupuncture still has a way to go to prove itself useful in many clinical applications, but its effectiveness may be significantly boosted by improving the needles that are used. A study in journal Nature Scientific Reports by researchers at DGIST (Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology in South Korea) introduces acupuncture needles that have minuscule holes throughout them that are from nanometer to micrometer in scale.
The new needles have a significantly greater surface area, about ten times that common needles of the same size would have. The researchers, in a study on lab rats with colorectal cancer, de...
Source: Medgadget - November 7, 2017 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Editors Tags: News Source Type: blogs
Conference Review: 2017 Palliative and Supportive Care in Oncology Symposium - Day 1
by Christian Sinclair (@ctsinclair)It is a testament to the growth and mainstream acceptance of palliative care, that there is a sub-sub-specialty two-day conference like the#PallOnc conference held in San Diego this past weekend. If you have not heard of this meeting yet, and the majority of your work in that intersection between oncology and palliative care, I would highly recommend considering it in the future. This is the 4th consecutive year the meeting has been held, and I applaud the commitment of the four co-sponsoring organizations (AAHPM, ASCO, ASTRO and MASCC). Kristina Newport and Shanthi Sivendranreviewed this...
Source: Pallimed: A Hospice and Palliative Medicine Blog - October 30, 2017 Category: Palliative Care Tags: conference reviews oncology palliative sinclair Source Type: blogs
Alternative medicine for cancer: Greater scrutiny is needed
As the calendar turns to early October, I’m reminded that this is the 6th anniversary of Steve Jobs’ death. At the time of his death, I was a medical student and my wife had just completed six months of chemotherapy. I was surprised to learn that Jobs had died from complications of cancer and shocked to discover that he had initially refused conventional cancer treatment in favor of alternative medicines. At first, I found it difficult to understand how someone with the intellectual and financial resources of Steve Jobs could make such a decision — but I was quickly reminded of the massive amounts of misinformati...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - October 14, 2017 Category: General Medicine Authors: < a href="http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/post-author/skyler-johnson" rel="tag" > Skyler Johnson, MD < /a > Tags: Physician Endocrinology Oncology/Hematology Source Type: blogs
On the " integration " of quackery into the medical school curriculum
On the"integration" of quackery into the medical school curriculumQEDCon is fast approaching (indeed, I can ' t believe I have to leave for Manchester tomorrow night), and because my talk there will be about the phenomenon of " integrative medicine, " I ' ve been thinking a lot about it. As I put together my slides, I can ' t help but see my talk evolving to encompass both " integrative " medicine and what I like to refer to as quackademic medicine, but that ' s not surprising. The two phenomenon are related, and it ' s hard to determine which has a more pernicious effect on science in medicine.One aspect of quac...
Source: Respectful Insolence - October 11, 2017 Category: Surgery Authors: oracknows Source Type: blogs
On the "integration" of quackery into the medical school curriculum
QEDCon is fast approaching (indeed, I can't believe I have to leave for Manchester tomorrow night), and because my talk there will be about the phenomenon of "integrative medicine," I've been thinking a lot about it. As I put together my slides, I can't help but see my talk evolving to encompass both "integrative" medicine and what I like to refer to as quackademic medicine, but that's not surprising. The two phenomenon are related, and it's hard to determine which has a more pernicious effect on science in medicine.One aspect of quackademic medicine that I probably don't write about as much as I should is the "integration...
Source: Respectful Insolence - October 11, 2017 Category: Surgery Authors: oracknows Source Type: blogs
A blog post on blog posts: Fact, fiction, and friction
A blog by definition is a regularly updated website or web page, typically one run by an individual or group, and is written in an informal or conversational style. As with any conversation, there is usually a blend of fact and opinion. In the case of a blog on medical topics, frequently the opinions are those of experts, and it is not uncommon for such opinions to lead to healthy debate.
Fake news or skewed views?
We make many decisions on the basis of research studies, and this is particularly the case in medicine. The non-medical media often does a good job of sensationalizing research in ways that are at times excessiv...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - September 15, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Paul G. Mathew, MD, FAAN, FAHS Tags: Health Source Type: blogs
3 things parents should know about complementary and alternative medicine
Follow me on Twitter @drClaire
More and more, I have families in my practice who are trying out treatments and therapies I didn’t prescribe. Most of the time, it’s absolutely fine. Other times, it’s not.
“Complementary and alternative medicine” is a broad term that refers to treatments that are not generally part of traditional Western medicine. It includes things like herbal remedies, dietary supplements or alternative diets, acupuncture, acupressure, homeopathy, Chinese remedies, Reiki, or hypnosis. It also includes things like yoga or meditation — and chiropractic medicine.
Many of these therapies have becom...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - August 29, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Claire McCarthy, MD Tags: Children's Health Complementary and alternative medicine Parenting Source Type: blogs
A new nomenclature for auricular acupuncture: The ultimate in Tooth Fairy science
Tooth Fairy science is the study of a phenomenon before having actually demonstrated that the phenomenon actually exists. I can't think of a better example than trying to construct an elaborate mapping system of body parts and organs to the surface of the external ear for purposes of sticking needles in them to heal and relieve pain (auricular acupuncture). Yet that's what's just been published. (Source: Respectful Insolence)
Source: Respectful Insolence - August 25, 2017 Category: Surgery Authors: Orac Tags: Clinical trials Complementary and alternative medicine Pseudoscience Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking acupuncture auricular acupuncture homunculus Source Type: blogs
Stopping Epidemics At The Source: Applying Lessons From Cholera To The Opioid Crisis
On September 8, 1854, acting on the advice of Dr. John Snow, London municipal authorities removed the pump handle from the Broad Street well in an effort to halt a major outbreak of cholera. Although an anesthesiologist by profession, Snow had methodically mapped the homes of new cases of cholera. He found that many clustered around the Broad Street pump.
Snow’s findings, still regarded as a classic example of epidemiology, established the principle: “that the most important information to have about any communicable disease is its mode of communication.” Dr. Snow did not establish the biologic mechanism of cholera o...
Source: Health Affairs Blog - August 4, 2017 Category: Health Management Authors: Chester Buckenmaier III and Eric Schoomaker Tags: Featured Public Health Quality Department of Veterans Affairs military health care Opioid Addiction opioid epidemic Source Type: blogs
