Ten per cent of newborn children in the Western world experience colic.1 2 The aetiology is unclear but gastrointestinal factors and allergy to cow's milk protein have been suggested as possible causes.3 Another suggestion is that colic is a behavioural condition resulting from unfavourable parent–infant interaction.
By Apekshababy (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
According to Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) nutrition principles, during the winter months our energy begins to move inward. It is a time of quietude and the best season to tonify and store essence internally. We asked two of our esteemed faculty members to share their favorite recipes for the season. We hope you enjoy!
AOMA Blog. (n.d.). [Image of a person receiving acupuncture]. AOMA Blog. Available here.
Many Chinese families will begin sweeping the floors and clearing the house of old items a week before Lunar New Year. Known as, “年廿八，洗邋遢 ” or Spring Cleaning, this custom is symbolic for getting rid of bad luck that happened in the previous year, and making room for good luck in the New Year.
Shutterstock. (n.d.). [Family cleaning the bathroom]. Shutterstock. Available here.
Integrative medicine (IM) is coming of age in the U.S. military, with the first example of widespread implementation of an IM technique being the popular use of acupuncture to treat pain in combat settings.
By Daniel Schwen (Own work) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)], via Wikimedia Commons
It is important to note that Percutaneous Posterior Tibial Nerve Stimulation (PTNS or electroacupuncture on SP6) is only one element of acupuncture treatment for urological problems. A wide variety of acupuncture points and stimulation methods are available to influence urological function.
Acupuncture Moxibustion. (n.d.). [Urinary acupuncture points - front view]. Acupuncture Moxibustion. Available here.
Growing up, my house smelled like three things: mothballs, Tiger Balm, and Chinese medicine. It wasn’t exactly the stuff of ambient candles — I don’t expect that Byredo is going to create a line called Taiwanese-American Living Room anytime soon. But to me, stinky Chinese herbs smell like home.
Photo by Mariano Sayno / husayno.com/Getty Images. Image sourced from NYMag. Available here.
Although the Japanese word for the tea ceremony, chanoyu, literally means “hot water for tea,” the practice involves much more than its name implies. Chanoyu is a ritualized, secular practice in which tea is consumed in a specialized space with codified procedures.
Arranging flowers and replacing a hanging scroll with a new one, from the series A Tea Ceremony Periwinkle, woodblock print by Toshikata Mizuno (1866–1908). Image sourced from Wikimedia Commons. Available here.
A cohort of one million randomly sampled cases from the National Health Insurance Research Database (NHIRD) was used to investigate the overall survival rate of CHM users, and prescription patterns.
A mighty membrane that twists and turns through the gut is starting the new year with a new classification: the structure, called the mesentery, has been upgraded to an organ.
The mesentery (yellow) connects the small and large intestines (pink). (Image credit: Dara Walsh, Medical Illustrator, University of Limerick, Ireland, and Dr. Calvin Coffey.) Image sourced from Live Science. Available here.
Hua Tuo, known today as the father of Chinese surgery, was already famous for treating a number of other patients successfully. Historical accounts credit him for his fame with acupuncture, surgery and for the use of an herbal drug mixture (possibly including marijuana or opium), which made him one of the first known doctors in the world to use anesthetics.
An Inca skull from the Cuzco region of Peru, showing four healed trepanations. The new review focuses on the practice in ancient China. Photo by John Verano. Image sourced from Smithsonian Magazine. Available here.
Chinese herbology classifies this herb as bitter and acrid in taste and slightly warm in properties. And it covers kidney and bladder meridians. Its key functions are dispelling wind and eliminating dampness and eliminating cold to stop pain.
Modern research has found that it is rich in cycloartane triterpene glycosides, methyl phenol, chloromethyl phenol and other polysaccharides.
Auricular acupuncture (AA) is effective in the treatment of preoperative anxiety. The aim was to investigate whether AA can reduce exam anxiety as compared to placebo and no intervention.
Image sourced from Wikimedia Commons. Available here.
The Global Institute of Traditional Medicine is an international research collaboration between the University of Adelaide in South Australia and a number of leading Chinese universities specialising in traditional medicine research.
The Institute’s overall aim is to study the potential integration of Traditional Chinese Medicine with western medicine and discover new treatments.
In order to give examples of herbal prescriptions for patients with cancer, we must distinguish three situations:
a) Patient with cancer before chemo-/radio-therapy
b) Patient during chemo- or radio-therapy
c) Patient after surgery and radio-/chemo-therapy
Photo by Shutterstock 313843037. Image of dried gardenia fruit herbs used in treatments in Chinese medicine sourced from Shutterstock. Available at: https://www.shutterstock.com/es/image-photo/dried-gardenia-fruit-herbs-treatments-chinese-313843037
I am presenting here the Chinese medicine view of cancer with patterns, treatment principle, herbs and herbal formulae. Very many of our patient have or have had cancer (or will have cancer) and, for this reason, I think it is extremely important to understand cancer from the point of view of Chinese medicine, even if we do not actually treat it. Moreover, even if we do not treat cancer itself, we can do our patients who have survived cancer a great service if we can develop treatment strategies to prevent recurrence.
While eggnog is traditionally spiked with bourbon and/or rum for a more “mature” beverage, this Douglas fir infused eggnog is a family friendly version of the more, ahem, festive kind. Spike liberally and accordingly, if so desired. I am not judging.
Image sourced from Nitty Gritty Life. Available at: https://nittygrittylife.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/LRM_EXPORT_20161215_151455-unsmushed-1-768x768.jpg
For instance, "vanilla is here thanks to a 12-year-old slave who figured out a botanical secret no one else knew. Chili powder spread across the country because of entrepreneurial Texan-Mexican women who fed soldiers and tourists — and a clever German immigrant who was looking for a culinary shortcut," she writes.
Japanese chemist Dr. Kikunae Ikeda is credited with discovering MSG — one of the eight ingredients Lohman explores in her book. Photo by Peter Van Hyning. Image sourced from NPR. Available at: https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2016/12/02/1_wide-408eb395952a7cfcba24e3f4c5f4ab15d1f663d2.jpg?s=800&c=85&f=webp
The study and practice of acupuncture by licensed acupuncturists causes functional and structural changes to their brains. The MRI investigation reveals important information on acupuncture and the brain. Researchers note that the behavioral and tactile-motor training and clinical experiences of acupuncturists promotes specific types of brain development in practitioners.
Image sourced from HealthCMi. Available at: https://www.healthcmi.com/images/9news/brainMRIgrey2.jpg
Researchers at The Fujian University of Traditional Chinese Medicine have made promising discoveries about the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) and have identified that electroacupuncture (EA) at the acupoint Baihui (DU20) may reverse key neurogenic factors of the disease.
Image sourced from HealthCMi. Available at: https://www.healthcmi.com/images/4ceu/scalp-acupoints.jpg
