Military is increasing the use of acupuncture.

With a lot of returning veterans, the need for a comprehensive and effective means to address both the physical trauma and emotional trauma of vets is huge.  A recent program on NPR shown HERE highlights the increase use of acupuncture by military physicians.  In my practice I regularly am introduced to several active special forces soldiers including Navy SEALS who now regularly seek me out for acupuncture.  I have also done extensive research and given talks on how acupuncture specifically works for conditions such as anxiety, depression, and PTSD.  A recent presentation can be found HERE. 

The NPR article is interesting because along with all the supportive work offered by both patients and physicians, it also gives dissenting opinions who, despite the massive amount of clinical data proving it works, call it a “quack-science”.  Specifically, they quote a “former Air Force flight surgeon” as calling acupuncture nothing more than a sugar pill.  The lack of education of this surgeon and ignorance is truly astounding.  It’s also frustrating  that the  quote is from a surgeon who by the very nature of their specialty knows very little about pain management or emotional disorders.  Would you ask a military flight surgeon their opinion on nutritional counseling or fertility procedures?  Their advice would be about as educated and helpful as the opinion quoted in this article.

Acupuncture and Cold Laser Reverse Hypothyroid Condition

Test results of my patient just confirmed! After 7 acupuncture and cold laser therapy treatments, all signs of Hypothyroidism have been completely eliminated! She was originally diagnosed with hypothyroidisms and put on medication.  After beginning her treatments, she noticed a dramatic increase in energy.  As an experiment, she stopped taking her thyroid medication but noticed no loss of energy.  After 10 days of being off of her medication, she had her TSH and T3 and T4 levels measured and results showed levels to be near perfect.   Her endocrinologist is baffled how this could have happened but took her off of all thyroid medication. She agreed she’s never seen this type of condition actually reverse itself… until now.  This experience was a wonderful example actually proving with blood-work how effective acupuncture and laser therapy can help with hypothyroid conditions.

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Craig Amrine, L.Ac. is the owner/operator of Hidden Rhythm Acupuncture and a leading authority on Cold-Laser Therapy.

Cold Laser Therapy for Shoulder Impingement

In my clinic, whether it’s at my Tempe Clinic or at Skydive Arizona, I treat a lot of shoulder injuries with acupuncture and cold-laser therapy.  Skydivers, martial artists, yoga practitioners, dancers, combat soldiers, construction workers, weekend warriors….  all have  experienced debilitating shoulder pain at one time or another.  The ingenious design of the shoulder that gives it incredible range of motion is also the reason it is so vulnerable to injury.  A recent article in Journal of Clinical Rheumatology highlighted just how effective cold laser therapy can be to treat shoulder impingement.  In this case, the shoulder injuries were described as subacromial syndrome (rotator cuff and biceps tendonitis).  In this study, a control group received placebo laser and exercise therapy while the real group received IR-laser (similar to my laser system) and exercise therapy.  While both groups noticed some improvement, the group receiving IR-laser therapy showed a significant improvement in both pain reduction and range-of motion (ROM) tests over the placebo group.  This was a wonderful study that provided yet additional evidence how cold laser therapy can be used to treat injuries and gives patients additional options to avoid toxic treatment choices such as cortisone injections.

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Craig Amrine, L.Ac. is the owner and operator of Hidden Rhythm Acupuncture, LLC and is a leading authority of Cold Laser Therapy in the Phoenix area.  He can be reached through his website at www.HiddenRhythmAcupuncture.com

The Mechanisms of Acupuncture

I gave a talk to a group of nurse practitioners at the VA hospital in Phoenix this past week. The talk covered an introduction to acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine theory followed by the use of acupuncture to treat a large variety of health issues.   Specifically, we discussed the specific mechanisms how acupuncture works to address certain diseases by:

-Decreasing pain by stimulating natural pain-killers including beta-endorphins.

-Improving the immune system by increasing certain white blood cells,

-Decreasing inflammation by changing cytokine levels

-Curing depression/addiction/PTSD by altering neurotransmitter levels like dopamine and serotonin

-Lowering hot-flashes and osteoporosis by altering hormones and cytokine levels.

Understanding these mechanisms and being able to explain them has been really helpful in teaching both patients and other health practitioners the wide applications of acupuncture and its legitimate role in today’s healthcare.

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Craig Amrine is a licensed acupuncturist and expert on cold-laser therapy.  He can be reached through his website at Hidden Rhythm Acupuncture by clicking HERE.

 

Acupuncture to Treat Menopause

With a surge of new patients coming to me for menopause symptoms, I decided to share some of my experience and successes treating these women for hot-flashes, insomnia, and osteoporosis.  Menopause (the termination of a women’s menstrual cycle) will typically occur between ages 49-51.  It’s often accompanied by several hormonal changes than can cause hot-flashes, insomnia, depression, and even loss of bone density (osteoporosis).

Conventional treatments include HRT (Hormone Replacement Therapy) and drugs to fight osteoporosis called biphosphonates (Fosomax, Boniva).  The problem is that these solutions can be extremely dangerous.  HRT is shown to increase the risk of some cancers while these biphosphonates have been linked to osteonecrosis (rotting of the bone).

Fortunately, acupuncture is been repeatedly proven to improve menopause symptoms.  There are several studies proving that it can dramatically decrease hot-flashes AND reverse the signs of osteoporosis.  Please refer to this link to my latest article describing how acupuncture can successfully treat menopause symptoms.

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Craig Amrine is a licensed acupuncturist and expert on cold-laser therapy.  He can be reached through his website at Hidden Rhythm Acupuncture by clicking HERE.

Acupuncture Improves Menopause Symptoms

With a recent influx of patients coming into my clinic for treatment of menopause symptoms, I figured I’d do a little bit of research on truly how effective acupuncture is in treating it.  To be clear, menopause is defined as the time when a woman’s period stops.  It usually happens between the ages of 48-51 for most women.  The problem is that these hormonal changes introduce a whole host of side-effects; the most common being hot-flashes, insomnia, anxiety, and osteoporosis (bone-thinning).  Can acupuncture help with these symptoms?  The answer is a resounding YES!  Aside from the the overwhelming testimony of some of my patients, several studies exist confirming that acupuncture can decrease the number and severity of hot flashes and reverse the symptoms of osteoporosis.  Stay tuned for an in-depth article I’ll issue in the next couple of days describing this in greater detail.

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Craig Amrine, L.Ac. is the owner and operator of Hidden Rhythm Acupuncture in Tempe, AZ.

PTSD and Acupuncture

With the United States actively involved in wars in at least 3 countries now, our military is more than ever being exposed to risks and stresses unique to battle situations.  Along with the physical injuries, the mental and emotional costs to our soldiers can be huge.  One of the most common but least understood problems is PTSD, or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.  Hyper-vigilance, flashbacks, anxiety, and depression are all common symptoms of this condition.  I’ve discussed this in great detail at a NOVA (Nurses of Veteran’s Affairs) conference as an invited speaker last year.  Details of this presentation can be found HERE.

Recently however, I was reminded that combat veterans aren’t the only people subject to this condition.  The second most common cause of PTSD are rape and sexual assault.  The number of both women and men who’ve been subject to this either as children or later in life is staggering.

I recently began treating a young woman who had undergone repeated intense sexual assaults as a child.  Now in her 20′s, she’s begun to take active steps in dealing with her past, including several types of therapy.  When she first came to see me, she was being actively treated by a psychiatrist, a therapist, and was taking 4 different drugs for stress, sleep, and anxiety.  Despite these forms of treatment, she was still subject to at least 4 panic attacks per week, including “night-terrors” where she wakes in the middle of the night in an extreme state of panic/fear.  She also struggles with dissociation episodes where she “zones” out for minutes at a time.   This can happen at any time of the day.

After about 4 acupuncture sessions, she suffers maybe 1 panic attack per week.  There are times now where she will even go a week or more with no panic attacks.  Her dissociation episodes have also dramatically decreased.  Both of us are incredibly thrilled how well she is responding to the treatments.

This recent case was a dramatic reminder how effective acupuncture can be to help treat not only combat soldiers, but other people who have been trying to survive their own kinds of battles.

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Craig Amrine is a licensed acupuncturist and expert on cold-laser therapy.  He can be reached through his website at Hidden Rhythm Acupuncture by clicking HERE.

Cold Laser Therapy Increases Muscle Strength

Craig Amrine, L.Ac. is the owner and operator of Hidden Rhythm Acupuncture, LLC and is a leading authority of Cold Laser Therapy in the Phoenix area.  He can be reached through his website at www.HiddenRhythmAcupuncture.com

If you’ve followed my blog posts through the past year, you may have realized how truly versatile and effective Cold Laser Therapy can be for a wide variety of health problems.  We’ve seen several cases and studies proving how cold-laser therapy can reduce inflammation, control thyroid problems, reduce pain, and accelerate tissue repair including skin, cartilage, and bone.

While we’ve already proven that Acupuncture can increase athletic performance, a recent study showed how cold laser therapy can increase athletic performance!  The study highlighted in this article HERE showed cold laser therapy treatments increased muscle strength.  Specifically, 36 healthy men were divided into three groups.  The first group (Control) did not exercise at all and received no laser treatment.  The second group involved training in series of Leg-Press exercises over a series of 12 weeks.  The third group involved the same Leg-Press training regime but also received cold-laser therapy on the quadriceps of both legs after each training session.  Cold Laser therapy was done for 140 seconds at 808 nm and 360 mW power. Overall strength was measured  both using a leg-press machine and an isokinetic dynamometry test.

The results were surprising!!  The Group 2  involved in strength training only increased Leg-Press strength by 26% compared to the control group.  No change was detectable in the isokinetic dynamometry test.  Group 3 that received strength training AND cold-laser therapy after each session showed an amazing 55% increase in Leg-Press strength!  Group 3 also showed a marked increase in strength according to the isokinetic dynamometry test.

These results are incredibly encouraging suggesting that cold-laser therapy is not just for the injured!  Athletes take note!  You now have a new safe and effective option for helping increase muscle performance!

The Myth of HCG diet for Weight Loss

Craig Amrine is a licensed acupuncturist and can be reached through his website at www.hiddenrhythmacupuncture.

After being bombarded by radio commercials about HCG weight loss programs on the radio and several questions from my patients, I feel compelled to speak up and discuss this latest trend.

The HCG diet is the latest “rehash” of a diet protocol developed by Dr. Simeons in the 1950′s.  It consists injecting HCG HCG (human chorionic gonadotropin), a hormone extracted from urine of pregnant women. It is approved by FDA for treatment of certain problems of the male reproductive system and in stimulating ovulation in women.  It was NEVER intended for use in weight loss.  The recommended protocol combines this hormone with a very restricted calorie diet  (some reports say as low as 600 calories per day) and exercise.  Hmm… so controlling calories and increasing exercise is part of the protocol… I’m thinking why inject hormones if you actually can follow the “eat less (and better) and exercise more” protocol?  Some studies claim that HCG doesn’t really even contribute to weight loss.  It is still not even approved by the FDA for weight loss.

When you start changing hormone levels in the body, the effects are far reaching and can be extremely dangerous.   The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases report that this protocol can cause fatigue, irritability and headaches, and precipitate gallstones.

Male breast enlargement has been reported in some HCG studies.  Thyrotoxicosis (elevated levels of thyroid) is also a risk.  Symptoms include fever, confusion and abdominal pain, and if left untreated can lead to sudden weight loss, sweating, irritability, rapid or irregular heartbeat and an increased risk of osteoporosis.

In America’s constant struggle against obesity, our culture has become desperate to jump on the latest trend or “short-cut” towards weight loss.  The HCG is the latest trend in this.  It is being HEAVILY marketed and pushed towards the desperate and folks looking for a shortcut to losing weight.

In a culture of processed foods and sedentary lifestyles, obesity is a constant struggle for most Americans.  Before dumping money in the latest pop-culture craze, save your money, do your research, and first examine your diet and exercise habits.  You may be surprised that  simply eating better and more often and exercising more can give dramatic results.

 

 

 

 

Acupuncture and Inflammation: A Healthy Alternative to Cortisone

Inflammation and an inflammatory diseases play a huge role in our health.  In one form or another, it can have a negative impact in practically every part of our body.  Under normal circumstances, the inflammatory process is an important part of our immune response and is critical to help fight infection and drive wound healing.

There are times, however, when the inflammation process gets “out of control” and causes problems.  At a local level, say, for tendonitis, it can lead to chronic pain and actually slow down joint healing.  In a more general body-wide level, it’s responsible for a wide range of health problems including allergies, asthma, gastro-intestinal disorders, cancer, heart disease, and auto-immune diseases.

Historically, the  conventional treatment has been some form of corticosteroids.  The immunosuppressive action of corticosteroids has been very successful in reducing short-term symptoms of inflammation.  So what are the risks?  Shutting down the immune system using these corticosteroids has a long list of negative side-effects and health risks…..many of which are completely unknown by the patients who take them.

Fortunately, patients have options that are both effective and infinitely safer including acupuncture and natural medicine.  The following article discusses inflammation and corticosteroids in great detail while highlighting the effectiveness of acupuncture in the treatment of inflammation.  Click HERE to access the article.

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Craig Amrine, L.Ac. is a licensed acupuncturist and expert on cold-laser therapy.  He can be reached through his website at www.hiddenrhythmacupuncture.com