Abbott Northwestern Hospital is reporting success using acupuncture in its emergency room to treat conditions ranging from car accident injuries to migraines to kidney stones, and hoping to prove that the traditional Chinese treatment can reduce doctors’ reliance on addictive opioids to manage patients’ pain.

The Minneapolis hospital was the first in the nation to staff its ER with an acupuncturist two years ago, as part of a broader campaign to promote Eastern remedies as complements to Western mainstream medicine.

After tracking 182 patients, it reported this month that pain scores in those who received acupuncture alone dropped by the same amount as those who also received analgesic painkillers.

“No matter what I’m treating them for, many patients report feeling calmer, more relaxed, less anxious,” said Adam Reinstein, the acupuncturist in Abbott’s ER.

Coordinating with doctors and nurses on weekdays, Reinstein finds patients willing to receive acupuncture. He then places needles stra...

"If you ask what is the single most important key to longevity, I would have to say it is avoiding worry, stress and tension. And if you didn't ask me, I'd still have to say it.”

                                                                              − the late comedian George Burns, who lived to 100

Saturday, April 16, was National Stress Awareness Day. If you were too busy to celebrate on Saturday – relax! The entire month of April is Stress Awareness Month. You’ve got plenty of time to incorporate some easy tips to reduce stress into your busy life.

Why stress management is essential for overall wellness

Chronic stress and illness are inextricably linked. When strong emotions go unchecked, good health quickly erodes. Stress is responsible for 75 to 90 percent of all doctor visits. Acute...

The emotions are an extremely important aspect of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). Emotional well being is an integral part of health in the TCM model. Each emotion is associated with an organ, which, if out of balance will cause specific symptoms.  These are what the experienced acupuncturist or practitioner of TCM is looking for when you walk into their office with a complaint.

Emotions are of course a natural part of being human. Feeling joy, sadness and anger are all perfectly normal experiences we have in our day to day lives. It is when these emotions become excessive, or are repressed and turned inward that they can become pathological and cause disease. The belief is that balancing the organ associated with the emotion will balance the emotion. Sometimes the organ is out of balance and produces the emotional imbalance. But sometimes the emotional imbalance can produce the organ imbalance. The difference to the practitioner is important only in preventing a recurrence of the...