Chiropractors and acupuncturists who have lobbied for a bigger role in treating pain have won a preliminary endorsement from federal health officials.
The Food and Drug Administration released proposed changes Wednesday to its blueprint on educating health care providers about treating pain. The guidelines now recommend that doctors get information about chiropractic care and acupuncture as therapies that might help patients avoid prescription opioids.
“[Health care providers] should be knowledgeable about the range of available therapies, when they may be helpful, and when they should be used as part of a multidisciplinary approach to pain management,” the agency wrote in the proposal.
About the Author Reprints
I support acupuncture and welcome the changes in the draft “FDA Blueprint for Prescriber Education for Extended-Release and Long-Acting Opioids”.
1. I welcome FDA and other related agencies aware of the serious problems of extended-release and long-acting opioids, and look for some alternative methods in both other medications and non-pharmaceutics, such as acupuncture which has extensive studies in both basic scientific studies and clinical trials.
2. I welcome FDA aware of people’s right (patient’s right). Currently many people choose natural therapies, such as acupuncture. People aware of that chemical (such as pharmaceutic medications) may cause potential problems and affect people’s health.
More and more people use natural therapies, especially acupuncture. I welcome FDA respects people’s choice and adds Complementary and Alternative medicine therapies (CAM, or say integrative medicine in recent years; especially acupuncture) in the Blueprint.
I understand some other people has right to use pharmaceutic medications, but these people should NOT block us using CAM, especially acupuncture. Doctors should have right to introducing acupuncture to their patients, if the pharmaceutic medicines, especially extended-release and long-acting opioids become a serious problem.
3. I welcome FDA aware of the hot wave and big trend of building up
integrative medicine centers in conventional medicine facilities and medical
schools in the USA and around the world.
In the USA, most of famous medical schools and hospitals already have
integrative medicine centers for years, such as in Harvard University School of Medicine and its affiliate hospitals.
Among the integrative medicine, as an important non-pharmaceutic therapy,
acupuncture is the extensive used one.
In USA, the biggest healthcare system, Veteran healthcare system, has more
than 1700 facilities, of 2015, 93% established integrative medicine centers or
programs, they provide veterans acupuncture.
In the US military many hospitals and clinics provide acupuncture service, even more, the experience of applying acupuncture has introduced to European military system (NATO). There are tens of news on TVs, newspapers, magazines and
academic journals about the effectiveness of acupuncture.
4. I welcome FDA aware of there are more than 6,000 medical doctors actively practice acupuncture in the USA, while more than 12,000 MDs got acupuncture training. There are more than 6,000 chiropractors also adopted acupuncture in their practice.
There are 34,682 active licensed acupuncturists in the USA in the early of 2015. Modern acupuncture education or training and the practice provide patients an excellent resource for non-pharmaceutic pain managements, and for other diseases or disorders’ treatments.
5. I welcome FDA aware of the acupuncture studies in both basic science and clinical trials, supported by National Center for Complementary and Integrative health (NCCIH), and National Center Institute (NCI), National Institutes of Health (NIH).
For the studies in acupuncture for pain, there are more than 7,000 articles were published and documented in PUBMED or say Medline. FDA probably aware of almost all acupuncture studies in basic science studies have positive results, they show acupuncture has sure effects on pain deceasing in animal projects.
Acupuncture can increase endorphin, serotonin, dopamine, and other internal neurotransmitters, and heal the course of pain (such as caused by various inflammatory, and neurogenic issues), and also directly treat the pain. For acupuncture clinical trials, most of them show acupuncture is both safe and effective if the studies had enough patient samples (i.e. P<0.05).
Besides that, acupuncture is a cost-effective therapy. If using acupuncture for pain management, the patients and insurers can save money. However, we should aware of the methodology flaws, some trial designs have obvious mistake, for example, the researchers adopted so-called “sham acupuncture” to mimic the trials for pharmaceutic medications, they did not test the “sham acupuncture” is real biologically inert and did not consider the difference between acupuncture such external nervous system stimulation therapy and internal medications which needs absorbing into blood steam and then have some pharmacological actions.
“Sham acupuncture” actually is one style of real acupuncture used by acupuncturists around the world. It is not a placebo. So, some people try to block acupuncture and believe acupuncture is just a placebo, actually they make judgement based on a wrong term used in acupuncture clinical trials.
6. I welcome FDA aware of that there are many healthcare insurance plans have covered acupuncture including Federal government employee programs for more than ten years. Such insurance plans aware acupuncture is effective in pain managements, and there are solid evidence to support acupuncture as an effective therapy.
I welcome FDA aware of all of these facts and educate more medical doctors and others decrease the use of some medications which clearly have adverse effects and addicting issue, and encourage more non-pharmaceutical therapies, especially acupuncture.
“I support acupuncture and welcome the changes in the draft “FDA Blueprint for Prescriber Education for Extended-Release and Long-Acting Opioids”.
I welcome FDA aware of that there are many healthcare insurance plans have covered acupuncture including Federal government employee programs for more than ten years. Such insurance plans aware acupuncture is effective in pain managements, and there are solid evidence to support acupuncture as an effective therapy.
I welcome FDA aware of all of these facts and educate more medical doctors and others decrease the use of some medications which clearly have adverse effects and addicting issue, and encourage more non-pharmaceutical therapies, especially acupuncture.
Because of acupuncture: I can play on the floor with my grandchildren– pain free and with the flexibity of a 20 year old ( i am a senior citizen); have the blood pressure of a 35 year old;
Need I say more?
I thank my lucky stars every day that Richard Nixon went to China in 1971 and brought acupuncture to the west!!!! KB
To whom it may concern,
Re. “I support acupuncture and welcome the changes in the draft “FDA Blueprint for Prescriber Education for Extended-Release and Long-Acting Opioids”.
1. I welcome FDA and other related agencies aware of the serious problems of extended-release and long-acting opioids, and look for some alternative methods in both other medications and non-pharmaceutics, such as acupuncture which has extensive studies in both basic scientific studies and clinical trials.
2. I welcome FDA aware of people’s right (patient’s right). Currently many people choose natural therapies, such as acupuncture. People aware of that chemical (such as pharmaceutic medications) may cause potential problems and affect people’s health.
More and more people use natural therapies, especially acupuncture. I welcome FDA respects people’s choice and adds Complementary and Alternative medicine therapies (CAM, or say integrative medicine in recent years; especially acupuncture) in the Blueprint.
I understand some other people has right to use pharmaceutic medications, but these people should NOT block us using CAM, especially acupuncture. Doctors should have right to introducing acupuncture to their patients, if the pharmaceutic medicines, especially extended-release and long-acting opioids become a serious problem.
3. I welcome FDA aware of the hot wave and big trend of building up
integrative medicine centers in conventional medicine facilities and medical
schools in the USA and around the world.
In the USA, most of famous medical schools and hospitals already have
integrative medicine centers for years, such as in Harvard University School of Medicine and its affiliate hospitals.
Among the integrative medicine, as an important non-pharmaceutic therapy,
acupuncture is the extensive used one.
In USA, the biggest healthcare system, Veteran healthcare system, has more
than 1700 facilities, of 2015, 93% established integrative medicine centers or
programs, they provide veterans acupuncture.
In the US military many hospitals and clinics provide acupuncture service, even more, the experience of applying acupuncture has introduced to European military system (NATO). There are tens of news on TVs, newspapers, magazines and
academic journals about the effectiveness of acupuncture.
4. I welcome FDA aware of there are more than 6,000 medical doctors actively practice acupuncture in the USA, while more than 12,000 MDs got acupuncture training. There are more than 6,000 chiropractors also adopted acupuncture in their practice.
There are 34,682 active licensed acupuncturists in the USA in the early of 2015. Modern acupuncture education or training and the practice provide patients an excellent resource for non-pharmaceutic pain managements, and for other diseases or disorders’ treatments.
5. I welcome FDA aware of the acupuncture studies in both basic science and clinical trials, supported by National Center for Complementary and Integrative health (NCCIH), and National Center Institute (NCI), National Institutes of Health (NIH).
For the studies in acupuncture for pain, there are more than 7,000 articles were published and documented in PUBMED or say Medline. FDA probably aware of almost all acupuncture studies in basic science studies have positive results, they show acupuncture has sure effects on pain deceasing in animal projects.
Acupuncture can increase endorphin, serotonin, dopamine, and other internal neurotransmitters, and heal the course of pain (such as caused by various inflammatory, and neurogenic issues), and also directly treat the pain. For acupuncture clinical trials, most of them show acupuncture is both safe and effective if the studies had enough patient samples (i.e. P<0.05).
Besides that, acupuncture is a cost-effective therapy. If using acupuncture for pain management, the patients and insurers can save money. However, we should aware of the methodology flaws, some trial designs have obvious mistake, for example, the researchers adopted so-called “sham acupuncture” to mimic the trials for pharmaceutic medications, they did not test the “sham acupuncture” is real biologically inert and did not consider the difference between acupuncture such external nervous system stimulation therapy and internal medications which needs absorbing into blood steam and then have some pharmacological actions.
“Sham acupuncture” actually is one style of real acupuncture used by acupuncturists around the world. It is not a placebo. So, some people try to block acupuncture and believe acupuncture is just a placebo, actually they make judgement based on a wrong term used in acupuncture clinical trials.
6. I welcome FDA aware of that there are many healthcare insurance plans have covered acupuncture including Federal government employee programs for more than ten years. Such insurance plans aware acupuncture is effective in pain managements, and there are solid evidence to support acupuncture as an effective therapy.
I welcome FDA aware of all of these facts and educate more medical doctors and others decrease the use of some medications which clearly have adverse effects and addicting issue, and encourage more non-pharmaceutical therapies, especially acupuncture. Thank you very much!
Sincerely yours,
Helen
I welcome FDA aware of the hot wave and big trend of building up
integrative medicine centers in conventional medicine facilities and medical
schools in the USA and around the world.
In the USA, most of famous medical schools and hospitals already have
integrative medicine centers for years, such as in Harvard University School of Medicine and its affiliate hospitals.
Among the integrative medicine, as an important non-pharmaceutic therapy,
acupuncture is the extensive used one.
In USA, the biggest healthcare system, Veteran healthcare system, has more
than 1700 facilities, of 2015, 93% established integrative medicine centers or
programs, they provide veterans acupuncture.
In the US military many hospitals and clinics provide acupuncture service, even more, the experience of applying acupuncture has introduced to European military system (NATO). There are tens of news on TVs, newspapers, magazines and
academic journals about the effectiveness of acupuncture.
Definitely not a benign or natural treatment. Nothing natural about needles
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2951167/
Acupuncture has been practiced for thousand years and result for pain management is clear and convicing.
For the studies in acupuncture for pain, there are more than 7,000 articles were published and documented in PUBMED or say Medline. FDA probably aware of almost all acupuncture studies in basic science studies have positive results, they show acupuncture has sure effects on pain deceasing in animal projects.
For the studies in acupuncture for pain, there are more than 7,000 articles were published and documented in PUBMED or say Medline. FDA probably aware of almost all acupuncture studies in basic science studies have positive results, they show acupuncture has sure effects on pain deceasing in animal projects.