The Acupreneur Blog

What an Idea!

I was reading through the news this week and I noticed this little tidbit:

Molly O'Leary, DC, of Brookside Chiropractic and Acupuncture will offer chair massages every Saturday and Sunday from noon to 4 p.m. at Aquarius Books in Kansas City.  - source

and I thought to myself that this here is a very entrepreneurial person.  I see all kinds of massage therapists that go into gyms and offer little chair massages.  but I had never considered it a big enough venue to be able to do it for acupuncture.  But when you consider what can be done with acupressure and seeds anything is possible.  So how about it?  Anyone going to offer 5-10 minute sessions in your local library, bookstore, or other relaxed place?  Or does this just go against the grain?

Amy, Editor
Community Newsletter

Fat-Busters My Fat Butt

I'm actually really glad for articles like this: Court cuts fake fat-busters down to size.

Dud professional titles, unsubstantiated testimonials and unreliable "before and after" pictures of alleged clients' thinning stomachs, waists and buttocks sparked an investigation into three family members.

These people have done more damage to the future of acupuncture than we can imagine.  How many times will something like this be propped up now as the norm?  How many people who've heard of these poor souls who have had had their dreams shattered will now attribute the failure not to a bunch of scammers but to acupuncture itself? 

"They are attracting clients in circumstances where it's misleading and unfair to other Chinese medicine clinics who abide by the (law)."

What a destruction of the trust of people.

-Amy, Editor
Community Newsletter

I Want To Go!!!

Check this out . . .

1,500-plus acupuncturists to gather for traditional Chinese medicine conference
More than 1,500 acupuncturists from nearly 30 countries and regions will gather in Beijing this October, to discuss the future of traditional Chinese medicine.
 
From Oct. 20 to 22, the acupuncturists will attend an academic forum for the 20th anniversary of the World Association of Acupuncture. The forum, with the theme of "acupuncture: looking back and looking forward", will have eight sub-forums on topics like education, the evolution of acupuncture and needle therapy practise and assessment.

Read the rest of the article here. 

-Amy, Editor
Community Newsletter

New Online Courses

I caught this article released this week and thought it might be of interest:

Continuing education classes for acupuncture are now being offered online by Healthcare Medicine Institute’s online continuing education division, HealthCMI. HealthCMI brings the classroom online using open source solutions for the web. “Open source solutions allow our learning management systems to operate on any type of server and offers unprecedented educational opportunities for medical professionals,” Executive Director of the Healthcare Medicine Institute, Adam White, said. Licensed acupuncturists can download courses at www.healthcmi.com and receive instant state approved certificates upon completion of course materials.

Click here for the rest of the article and please check with the NCCAOM before assuming that any course is approved for Continuing Education Credits.

Cheers All
Amy, Editor
Community Newsletter

A Preganncy Rebuttal

As you might recall, I posted about a tiny little story that said acupuncture couldn't help women get pregnant.  There were no sources or proof for this allegation.,  But as you know we now seem to live in a world where proof lies in the loudest voice not in actual scientific data.  How very sad for all of us.

But low and behold, I find this little nugget and I find a smidgen of faith in the world again.

Yes, Herbal Medicine can help women achieve pregnancy
Far from hindering IVF, complementary treatment often improve fertility, says Emma Ferrant.
I read with dismay your article on herbal medicine, which could unnecessarily discourage women from seeking such treatment for fertility problems (Herbal remedies 'may hinder IVF treatment', July 5)."Infertile women who supplement their fertility treatment with alternative medicines may be harming their chances of becoming pregnant," you reported. A year-long study "found that those who turned to complementary therapies ... while having IVF treatment were at least 30% less likely to become pregnant than women who did not." You didn't mention, though, that there is a body of research evidence to contradict this study.

Happy Reading!
Amy, Editor
Community Newsletter

Anyone know this woman?

A Grand Valley woman who has been missing for more than a week had maintained a business she called Grand River Acupuncture, but Paige Birgfeld had no license to perform acupuncture in Colorado.

Birgfeld’s whereabouts last were known on June 28, and family members reported her missing a week ago. Her car was found burning Sunday in a parking lot about two miles from her home, but authorities have said they couldn’t rule out the possibility of vandalism.

If anyone knows anything please do contact the authorities.  And for the whole article please click here.

Amy, Editor
Community Newsletter

Dutch Science

I read this little article from KGAN CBS2 and have to ask the opinion of those intellgencia that read this blog.  My question: what the hell?

LYON, France (AP) -- A Danish study indicates that alternative therapies such as herbal supplements, homeopathy, and acupuncture might actually reduce a woman's chance of getting pregnant.

For my money this is about as good as claiming that abstinence only education works.  But I'd like to know what you think.

Oh and you can read the whole thing here.  But please note the complete lack of substantiation.

Amy, Editor
Community Newsletter

Response to Kidnapping

As you will see in this weeks Community Newsletter there was an incident in the Middle East recently of an acupuncture clinic broken into and hostages taken.  Here we see the reports of the Pakistani governements response to that action:

     Pakistan deployed paramilitary troops around the Lal Masjid here, hinting at a possible security offensive against its radical clerics and militant madrassa students involved in the recent kidnapping of seven Chinese.
About 1,000 rangers took positions around the Lal Masjid located in central Islamabad and a boys' madrassa nearby for a possible raid following a government order, according to sources.

Read the whole article here.

Statistics

According to this news story the # of people receiving AOM has increased a bit.  But more than that it shows that the people receiving this medicine aren't necessarily who you think:

It is believed that about 40 percent of the population uses alternative therapies, such as acupuncture, at least once by age 33. Baby boomers and post-baby boomers constitute the largest percentage of clients.

Check out the whole article here.

News Round-Up

Members and friends of NADA should read this story on acupuncture and addiction at the Gulf Daily News.

CBC News printed this story recently:  "A bid by practitioners of Chinese medicine to convince the province to fund acupuncture treatments for people on low incomes has received support from the B.C. New Democrats."

Chinese acupuncture in Africa?  Check it out at allAfrica.com

Our friends at AWB got some good press at Seacoastonline.com recently: "Needles used in acupuncture are both slender and solid. Members of Acupuncturists Without Borders are using the technique to help treat returning war veterans and Hurricane Katrina survivors."

The Baltimore Sun covered the Tai Sophia graduation.

Enjoy the stories!
Amy, Editor
Community Newsletter