Everyone experiences pain at some point, but in people with depression or anxiety, pain can become particularly intense and hard to treat. People suffering from depression, for example, tend to experience more severe and long-lasting pain than other people.
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Loneliness is a well-established risk factor for poor physical health. Much less is known about
how loneliness affects patient-reported outcomes (PROs), such as somatic symptoms, which are increasingly
important for guiding symptom management and assessing quality of patient care. The current
study investigates whether (a) loneliness and social isolation predict cold symptoms independent of each other, and (b) whether loneliness is a more robust risk factor than objective social isolation for experiencing cold symptoms.
Giovanni Battista Quadrone: Every Occasion is Good. Artist: Giovanni Battista Quadrone (1844–1898). Image sourced from Wikimedia Commons. Available here.
One of the most central concepts of TCM is that of the intimate connection between the body and the environment. The physiology of the cells, tissues, zang-fu organs and meridian system of the body is in dynamic internal equilibrium and constantly adjusts to the vagaries of the external environment. If the body is not able to cope with changes in the environment, internal equilibrium will be lost and disease will result. Thus, according to the constitution of any particular individual, the presence of disease is due to a lack of adaptability by the physiology of that individual to the conditions of the environment.
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When exterior Dampness invades the body, it tends to invade the lower part first, typically the legs. From the legs, it can flow upwards in the leg channels to settle in any of the pelvic cavity organs. If it settles in the female genital system it causes vaginal discharges, if it settles in the Intestines it will cause loose stools and if it settles in the Bladder it will cause difficulty, frequency and burning of urination. However, Dampness is also common in the head and always the cause of sinusitis for example.
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In patients with allergic asthma, additional acupuncture treatment to routine care was associated with increased disease-specific and health-related quality of life compared to treatment with routine care alone.
Mendel assumed (based on copyright claims). [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
Acupuncture is commonly used as a complimentary treatment for pain management. However, there has been no systematic review summarizing the current evidence concerning the effectiveness of acupuncture for acute postoperative pain after back surgery. This systematic review aimed at evaluating the effectiveness of acupuncture treatment for acute postoperative pain (≤1 week) after back surgery.
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According to a study published in Neurology Research, herbal therapy can significantly reduce the risk of stroke recurrence in patients with small vessel disease.
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The most frequent references to point selection consistent with the five zone method of therapy is to be found in the book Case Studies from the Medical Records of Leading Chinese Acupuncture Experts (6). Though the book was compiled in 2009 and published in 2011, it predominantly presents case reports from before the year 2000, some going back to the 1960s.
Photo by Shutterstock 281440808. Image of an acupuncturist pointing at BL17 on an acupuncture model sourced from Shutterstock. Available here.
Acupuncture is a go-to treatment for musculo-skeletal pain and a commonly used modality for treating sports injuries. This podcast focuses on its application for enhancing athletic performance as well.
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In traditional Chinese medicine, there is historical precedent for the treatment of so-called "Shen" (Heart-Mind) disorder, or disorder/dysregulation of the spirit, which is also considered as distinct but not separate from the cognitive function of the brain.
Long ago I had a patient that didn't fill her herb prescription. I asked her why and she began to reply hesitantly. I stepped in and said, "I understand if you have concerns about products from China. Would you like to know more about why I trust my herbs?" She said, "Yes." After I had shared a few quick facts, she started asking questions.
Photo by Shutterstock 313843037. Image of dried gardenia fruit herbs used in treatments in Chinese medicine sourced from Shutterstock. Available here.
Traditional herbal medicines are naturally occurring, plant-derived substances with minimal or no industrial processing that have been used to treat illness within local or regional healing practices. Traditional herbal medicines are getting significant attention in global health debates. In China, traditional herbal medicine played a prominent role in the strategy to contain and treat severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).
iStock. (n.d.). [Manos la protección de las plantas de menta]. iStock. Available here.
Patients with advanced malignancies are often suffered from deficient vital qi, which is clinically presented as cancer-related pain, anorexia, nausea/vomiting, fatigue, fever, indigestion, and constipation, which severely lower the quality of life and even shorten the survival of these patients. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has a long history and rich experiences in treating malignancies. In addition to surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and other modern therapies, the TCM-based treatment can dramatically alleviate the clinical symptoms and improve the quality of life. This article analyzes the TCM treatment for the cancer pain, nausea/vomiting and cancer-related fatigue in patients with advanced malignancies, and the TCM-based emotional care for these patients are also discussed.
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By Sabine Wilms
Chinese medicine practitioners involved in reproductive care often find themselves affected by a fairly recent but rapidly growing trend to encapsulate the woman’s placenta, sometimes with the addition of “traditional” Chinese herbs, and have the woman ingest these after delivery, presumably to treat postpartum exhaustion and depression and improve lactation. This issue comes up frequently when I lecture on postpartum care in classical Chinese medicine.
Henry Vandyke Carter [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
As a bodyworker, I nickname San Jiao the traveller's meridian, helping us adapt to changing altitudes, different time and climate zones. And adapt to the changes prompted by Menopause and Andropause. It's also the body's thermostat. Buddy of the immune system. Chief movement navigator of fluids around the body.
Wikimedia Commons. (1817). [The Triple Burner (San Jiao), Chinese woodcut]. Wikimedia Commons. Available here.
Once a plant detects an insect or fungus, it begins to produce the hormone jasmonic acid, which initiates an immune response that prevents further damage. After the attack, jasmonic acid is quickly broken down again. This is necessary because the hormone inhibits plant growth and development.
Shutterstock. (n.d.). [Hand protecting mint plant in vegetable garden]. Shutterstock. Available here.
It is commonplace to have patients referred to me by other clinicians due to complications in cold and flu scenarios and in almost all of these cases the respective patient was previously administered the patent medicine Yin Qiao San. Upon questioning if they were experiencing Wind Heat symptoms appropriate to Yin Qiao San, the majority of the patients reply: "I don't remember, I was just told this was a good formula for colds or flu regardless of what I was feeling."
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Unique in the pantheon of plant medicinal preparations, essential oils capture both the substance, yuan qi and the spirit, wei qi, of a plant. Inherent in plants in the same way that blood is inherent to the human body, oils carry the nutrients and the genetics to every corner of the plant. When we extract oils from plants and plant parts, we change both the concentration and nature of a plant's natural oil content, yielding a compact, powerful, and previously unborn substance.
Vecteezy. (n.d.). [Hierbas frescas y una botella]. Vecteezy. Available here.
According to Weisl (1955), the first medical practitioners to express an interest in the pelvic girdle were Hippocrates (460-377BCE), Vesalius (1543CE) and Pare (1643CE). Research over the last 50 years has revealed significant information pertaining to the anatomy and function of the pelvic girdle.
Henry Gray (1918) Anatomy of the Human Body. Bartleby.com: Gray's Anatomy, Plate 319. Image sourced from Wikimedia Commons. Available here.
Massage is a common treatment option for chronic lower back pain relief. Massage’s effectiveness at treating this condition is well-known and well-documented; this explains why massage is commonly recommended. However, almost no empirical evidence exists supporting massage as a treatment option in “real world” primary health care. That is, those interested in chronic lower back pain treatment wanted to see more evidence of massage’s effectiveness in “real-world” scenarios.
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