ACUPUNCTURE
The consensus statement
issued by the panel also said that “Further research is likely to uncover
additional areas where acupuncture interventions will be useful.”
An article in the San Luis Obispo Telegram-Tribune quoted Dr. David Ramsey,
president of the University of Maryland Medical Center and a member of the
NIH panel, as saying, “This is a pretty dramatic finding . . . It’s time to
take it (acupuncture) seriously.”
Part of taking acupuncture seriously according to the NIH panel means expanding
“its use into conventional medicine and to encourage further studies of its
physiology and clinical value.” They also concluded that the continuing research
has already shed more light on exactly how acupuncture works from a medical
standpoint and that they are encouraged about the possibilities of its future
use for therapeutic effects. The Telegram-Tribune article also quoted Dr.
Marjorie Bowman, and NIH panel member and chair of the University of Pennsylvania’s
department of family practice and community medicine, as stating that “for
chronic problems which have no good alternatives for treatment, acupuncture
seems worth a try.”
The consensus statement went on to talk about Insurance companies eliminating
some of the financial barriers that patients may face in getting treatment,
with companies such as Medicare and Medicaid expanding their coverage to make
acupuncture readily available. In summary of how acupuncture compared with
traditional medical techniques, the panel said, “The data in support of acupuncture
are as strong as those for many accepted Western medical therapies.” Further
supporting this is the fact that the World Health Organization recommends
the use of acupuncture for the treatment of over forty different conditions.
With this one part of the puzzle completed, the remaining pieces involving
Chinese herbs and liquid minerals will be the next to fall into place.