Acupuncture has been used for thousands of years, but reception for the procedure by the Western medical community has been lukewarm at best. Christian Nix, who is opening an acupuncture clinic in Chicago's Mercy Hospital in Feb. 2012, is trying to change that.
"There are a lot of poorly thought-out, New Age knuckleheads talking about acupuncture," he says. "But there are not a lot of people who are taking the time to teach acupuncture to Westerners in a way that makes sense to the Western medical mind and is authentic to a holistic model. It is so effective and so inexpensive, Acupuncture is actually no big deal. It’s the theory of how to treat holistically that is important."
Mr. Nix does just that, and his program for teaching acupuncture to physicians is one of the only ones approved by the American Medical Association.
"Western medical professionals are trained toward the biomedical model," he says. "We know that there's a great piece to that. We can do tremendous things, but like every system, it has limitations. The essential thing about integration in medicine is to learn to recognize what those limitations are and what conditions would be best served by another system – namely holism."
While a patient presenting with a heart attack would obviously benefit from Western medicine, patients with chronic conditions, such as chronic pain, are often treated better with holistic medicine, Mr. Nix says.
"Holistic medicine at the professional level is great at treating chronic disease," he says. "Chronic disease is chronic disease because there's no easy answer. Difficult to treat diseases that we have no answer for in US-style healthcare are exactly what holistic medicine is best at."
Part of the reason holistic medicine, including acupuncture, is best at treating chronic disease is because it treats functional aspects of health and illness — patterns of signs and symptoms — instead of diseases or conditions. When the disease cannot be cured, managing the symptoms and focusing on quality of life is often the most beneficial route. Because of their training, this is oftentimes, hard for Western physicians to accept, Mr. Nix says.
"You have to remember that the biomedical model is always looking for physical evidence, endocrine function or some endocrine secretion after the needles went in," he says. "That's the kind of evidence that they're looking for. But there's a subjective aspect of holistic medicine. A patient may feel hot but may or may not have a temperature. You say you're hot, but I see nothing wrong with you. The holistic model doesn't care. The subjective piece is very well handled in the Eastern model and not the Western."
Moshe Lewis, MD, SpineCare Medical Group, Daly City, Calif., and Pain Management and Rehabilitation, Redwood City, Calif., is an interventional pain management physician who employs acupuncture to help his chronic pain patients. He agrees that acupuncture has a place complementing interventional pain management procedures.
"Everything that we do in medicine is based on experience, data and clinical presentation," he says. "I don't want to say that acupuncture is going to work for everyone. However, on the flip side, I that it has an important place in medicine and can be an effective treatment for several conditions."
Acupuncture can be helpful in acute conditions such as epicondylitis, and it can also treat chronic conditions, such as repetitive stress syndrome, well, Dr. Moshe says.
"Anyone who sits at a computer long enough is likely to encounter symptoms of repetitive stress syndrome or tendinitis," he says.
This disorder generally presents with pain in the wrists and hands, and can cause achy muscles and even myofacial pain. Dr. Moshe says acupuncture works better with muscle disorders than bone disorders because the treatment can help to relax the muscles. Bones, discs and cartilage disorders are much harder to treat definitively. For example, an 80-year-old woman who has arthritis and is no longer walking straight will not be likely to improve her posture with acupuncture. It might alleviate the pain, but it won't actually treat the problem, Dr. Moshe says. Therefore, Acupuncture should always be
customized for the appropriate patient and diagnosis where it is likely to be of benefit.
Just like Mr. Nix, Dr. Moshe has seen the doubtful looks of other physicians. He says podiatrists and sports medicine physicians are generally the most supportive of acupuncture.
"Many more times, they are likely to have a patient where nothing works, and acupuncture worked," he says. "There's a healthy skepticism [among other physicians]. Western medicine, even though we may not want to admit it, has a financial bias. It would be amazing to see how supported acupuncture would be if it were lucrative."
However, it's the low cost of the treatment that has some insurance companies realizing the benefits of acupuncture, Dr. Moshe says. The cost is low, and patients want it. Insurance companies are beginning to cover it for some providers.
Although some insurance companies are beginning to cover acupuncture, the patients at the future Mercy Clinic will be encouraged not to use insurance, but to pay the $20 fee out of pocket, says Mr. Nix. The low-overhead cost of the clinic allows for such a low fee, and he says it's easier than dealing with the insurance companies.
The acupuncture clinic at Mercy Hospital is what he calls a community clinic. It's a no-frills space in the penthouse floor of the hospital with folding chairs that would be seen at the beach, he says. For patients who want more privacy, there will be movable screens. He expects each acupuncturist to see four to 10 patients per hour — the clinic will treat up to 300-400 patients per week at capacity.
It's the simple care model, low-risk treatment and affordability that Mr. Nix thinks will eventually lead to acupuncture's acceptance.
"I'm trying to sway people to start looking in this direction," he says. "Acupuncture is so affordable and so safe. There's no possibility that's its going to be kept out forever."
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"There are a lot of poorly thought-out, New Age knuckleheads talking about acupuncture," he says. "But there are not a lot of people who are taking the time to teach acupuncture to Westerners in a way that makes sense to the Western medical mind and is authentic to a holistic model. It is so effective and so inexpensive, Acupuncture is actually no big deal. It’s the theory of how to treat holistically that is important."
Mr. Nix does just that, and his program for teaching acupuncture to physicians is one of the only ones approved by the American Medical Association.
"Western medical professionals are trained toward the biomedical model," he says. "We know that there's a great piece to that. We can do tremendous things, but like every system, it has limitations. The essential thing about integration in medicine is to learn to recognize what those limitations are and what conditions would be best served by another system – namely holism."
While a patient presenting with a heart attack would obviously benefit from Western medicine, patients with chronic conditions, such as chronic pain, are often treated better with holistic medicine, Mr. Nix says.
"Holistic medicine at the professional level is great at treating chronic disease," he says. "Chronic disease is chronic disease because there's no easy answer. Difficult to treat diseases that we have no answer for in US-style healthcare are exactly what holistic medicine is best at."
Part of the reason holistic medicine, including acupuncture, is best at treating chronic disease is because it treats functional aspects of health and illness — patterns of signs and symptoms — instead of diseases or conditions. When the disease cannot be cured, managing the symptoms and focusing on quality of life is often the most beneficial route. Because of their training, this is oftentimes, hard for Western physicians to accept, Mr. Nix says.
"You have to remember that the biomedical model is always looking for physical evidence, endocrine function or some endocrine secretion after the needles went in," he says. "That's the kind of evidence that they're looking for. But there's a subjective aspect of holistic medicine. A patient may feel hot but may or may not have a temperature. You say you're hot, but I see nothing wrong with you. The holistic model doesn't care. The subjective piece is very well handled in the Eastern model and not the Western."
Moshe Lewis, MD, SpineCare Medical Group, Daly City, Calif., and Pain Management and Rehabilitation, Redwood City, Calif., is an interventional pain management physician who employs acupuncture to help his chronic pain patients. He agrees that acupuncture has a place complementing interventional pain management procedures.
"Everything that we do in medicine is based on experience, data and clinical presentation," he says. "I don't want to say that acupuncture is going to work for everyone. However, on the flip side, I that it has an important place in medicine and can be an effective treatment for several conditions."
Acupuncture can be helpful in acute conditions such as epicondylitis, and it can also treat chronic conditions, such as repetitive stress syndrome, well, Dr. Moshe says.
"Anyone who sits at a computer long enough is likely to encounter symptoms of repetitive stress syndrome or tendinitis," he says.
This disorder generally presents with pain in the wrists and hands, and can cause achy muscles and even myofacial pain. Dr. Moshe says acupuncture works better with muscle disorders than bone disorders because the treatment can help to relax the muscles. Bones, discs and cartilage disorders are much harder to treat definitively. For example, an 80-year-old woman who has arthritis and is no longer walking straight will not be likely to improve her posture with acupuncture. It might alleviate the pain, but it won't actually treat the problem, Dr. Moshe says. Therefore, Acupuncture should always be
customized for the appropriate patient and diagnosis where it is likely to be of benefit.
Just like Mr. Nix, Dr. Moshe has seen the doubtful looks of other physicians. He says podiatrists and sports medicine physicians are generally the most supportive of acupuncture.
"Many more times, they are likely to have a patient where nothing works, and acupuncture worked," he says. "There's a healthy skepticism [among other physicians]. Western medicine, even though we may not want to admit it, has a financial bias. It would be amazing to see how supported acupuncture would be if it were lucrative."
However, it's the low cost of the treatment that has some insurance companies realizing the benefits of acupuncture, Dr. Moshe says. The cost is low, and patients want it. Insurance companies are beginning to cover it for some providers.
Although some insurance companies are beginning to cover acupuncture, the patients at the future Mercy Clinic will be encouraged not to use insurance, but to pay the $20 fee out of pocket, says Mr. Nix. The low-overhead cost of the clinic allows for such a low fee, and he says it's easier than dealing with the insurance companies.
The acupuncture clinic at Mercy Hospital is what he calls a community clinic. It's a no-frills space in the penthouse floor of the hospital with folding chairs that would be seen at the beach, he says. For patients who want more privacy, there will be movable screens. He expects each acupuncturist to see four to 10 patients per hour — the clinic will treat up to 300-400 patients per week at capacity.
It's the simple care model, low-risk treatment and affordability that Mr. Nix thinks will eventually lead to acupuncture's acceptance.
"I'm trying to sway people to start looking in this direction," he says. "Acupuncture is so affordable and so safe. There's no possibility that's its going to be kept out forever."
Related Articles on Pain Management:
What Can Legislators Do Right Now to Positively Impact Pain Management? 5 Physician Responses
ASC Specialty to Watch: Pain Management in 2012
13 Statistics on Pain Management Physician Retirement Benefits