The earliest acupuncture school of the United States incubated in a Tai Chi Center in Los Angeles. Author: Arthur Yin Fan

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Title: The earliest acupuncture school of the United States incubated in a Tai Chi Center in Los Angeles Authors: Arthur Yin Fan

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Letters to JAMA Exposing Acupuncture Research Flaws Applauded by TCMAAA (from http://www.marketwatch.com)

Letters to JAMA Exposing Acupuncture Research Flaws Applauded by TCMAAA

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/letters-to-jama-exposing-acupuncture-research-flaws-applauded-by-tcmaaa-2015-02-19

Published: Feb 19, 2015 8:01 a.m. ET

TCMAAA calls for stricter adherence to research ethics and well-designed acupuncture studies among the integrative medicine community

TAMPA, Fla., Feb 19, 2015 (BUSINESS WIRE) — In five letters to the editor published in the latest issue of JAMA, the Journal of the American Medical Association, acupuncture clinicians and researchers around the world point to key flaws that call into question the validity and research methods used in a randomized clinical trial published in JAMA in October of 2014. The Australian study, Acupuncture for chronic knee pain: a randomized clinical trial, by Hinman, et al., concluded, “In patients older than 50 years with moderate or severe chronic knee pain, neither laser nor needle acupuncture conferred benefit over sham for pain or function. Our findings do not support acupuncture for these patients.” Many American acupuncturists were outraged when the October 2014 article was published in JAMA and have called for a review of the study’s design and protocols.

Yong Ming Li, MD, Ph.D., of New Jersey challenges that the researchers altered the aims and hypotheses of the study after the data was collected and the trial was closed. According to the original aims and hypotheses submitted to the official clinical trials registry in 2009 the objective of the study was not to evaluate the effectiveness of traditional needle acupuncture against sham laser acupuncture, but to evaluate laser acupuncture against sham laser acupuncture with needle acupuncture serving as a positive control for laser acupuncture. Protocols originally filed with the registry as well as the authors’ baseline publication do not describe sham laser acupuncture as being a control for needle acupuncture. Dr. Li’s letter furthermore debates the validity of using sham laser acupuncture as a control for needle acupuncture, as it is not generally accepted as a valid control for needle acupuncture.

Hongjian He, AP, Ph.D., of Florida also questions design choices: she specifically points to the use of non-standardized point selection for chronic knee pain. Also some patients received treatments once a week, while others got treated twice a week. This lack of consistency throws into question the validity of the statistics extrapolated from the data collected during the study.

David Baxter, TD, DPhil, MBA, and Steve Tumilty, Ph.D., questioned in their letters why the researchers chose to use laser dosages below the threshold necessary to have a therapeutic effect and why they failed to specify wavelength used in the study and why those levels were chosen.

Lixing Lao, Ph.D., MB, and Dr. Wing-Fai Yeung, BCM, Ph.D., point out in their letter that patients were assessed after 12 weeks and then again after one year, but that without treatment for chronic knee pain after one year, the condition naturally will deteriorate, so that the findings after a year are irrelevant. With these key flaws revealed the conclusion of this randomized clinical trial is clearly undermined.

No group has been more involved in this issue than the Traditional Chinese Medicine American Alumni Association (TCMAAA). Through its broad social media in the USA and around the world, TCMAAA has orchestrated a series of professional forums and discussions on research ethics and design for acupuncture studies after the Australian study was published in JAMA.

“This collection of letters represents a merging of licensed acupuncturists and integrative medicine practitioners who demand the same gold standards of ethics and design quality for clinical acupuncture research as conventional medical studies,” stated Haihe Tian, Ph.D., AP., the President of TCMAAA.

Even with the challenges acupuncture poses in gold-standard randomized clinical trials this valuable treatment method should not be overlooked. With properly designed and well-thought-out studies acupuncture can be evaluated fairly and thoroughly, with conclusions founded upon careful reasoning, accepted controls, and irrefutable evidence.

About TCMAAA:

Registered in Florida, TCMAAA (website: http://www.tcmaaa.org) is a nonprofit organization with one thousand members of licensed acupuncture practitioners formally trained in accredited medical education institutions in China. As a leading organization among Chinese Medicine practitioners, TCMAAA continues to support its members’ professional growth across the United States.

SOURCE: TCMAAA

For TCMAAA
Selene Hausman, L.Ac., 480-510-2259
seleneph@gmail.com

number of Licensed Acupuncturists in the U.S. — July 2009 :27965

https://www.pocacoop.com/prick-prod-provoke/post/survey-says-27965-licensed-acupuncturists-in-the-u.s.-as-of-july-2009

Total number of Licensed Acupuncturists in the U.S.  — July 2009

(Chronology Format)

1st                                                                                       sept   july   proj’ns
Law   State         1992  1993  1994  1996  1998  2000  2004   2007   2009    2009

1973  Maryland       313   259   259    433    433    720   740    798    800     825
1973  Nevada           30     30    30      30      30     29     43      41      45       45
1973  Oregon          143   168   168    256    334    326   576    893    947     965
1974  Hawaii            252   270   276   338    356    405   532    621    624     630
1974  Montana           68     68    68      92     98    117   136    147    147     150
1974  So Carolina         1       1      1       2      73    73      47    113     89      90
1975  Louisiana                     1      2       2        3     3       12     17     18      20

1975  California    2798  2829  3049  3692  4387  5321  8566  10700   9402    9700
1978  Rhode Island   24    24     45     60      79      99    131     151     150     160
1981  Florida          399    399   442    537   810   1029  1580   1777   1900    1950
1981  New Mexico     270   270   270   390   390     498   533      574    700     720
1983  New Jersey      45     45     45     62    101     180   367      485    700     725
1983  Utah                22    22      22     27     27       37     64        89    103     105
1985  Vermont                                    34      52      76     111     143    152     155
1985  Washington     137   144   169   299   274   535   904    950   1142    1175
1986  Massachusetts  356   398   434   524   652   805   941    950    961     965
1986  Pennsylvania   105   105   249   310   310   545   583    500    468     470
1987  Maine              38      39      45     53    59    79      90    120    120     125
1989  Colorado        93   115   143   202   293   386   711    931   1035    1060
1989  Dist of Col.        42    42    42    42   117   128   176    160    146     150
1989  Wisconsin       80    99   108   172   165   133   312    399    401     410
1990  Alaska           9    12    14    28    38    47    62     82     93      95
1991  New York       300   300   500   700   800  1200  2400   2961   3312    3400
1993  Iowa                               3     8    19    27     38     60      65
1993  North Carolina               7    67   115   146   227    380    392     400
1993  Texas                      154   300   363   409   627    782    842     875
1993  Virginia                     3    14    31    80   256    349    406     425
1995  Connecticut                        8    98   163   257    295    350     360
1995  Minnesota                         13    88   119   316    314    358     370
1996  West Virginia                      4    30    40    44     48     35      35
1997  Arkansas                                 9    17    26     30     33      35
1997  Illinois                                     224   421    531    631     650
1997  New Hampshire                                 34    78    102    110     110
1998  Arizona                                      142   314    441    482     500
1998  Missouri                                            57     75     82      85
1999  Idaho                                         45    75    146    160     165
1999  Indiana                                             48     85     85      90
2000  Georgia                                        8   132    150    175     180
2000  Ohio                                          11    69    125    147     150
2000  Tennesee                                            69     94    108     110
2001  Nebraska                                            11     15     10      10
2006  Michigan                                                           0       0
2006  Kentucky                                                   31     44      45
2008  Mississippi                                                        0       1
2008  Delaware                                                           0      10

Totals              5525  5640  6545  8694 10623 14228 22671  27633  27965   28761

Estimated numbers of Acupuncturists in each state with no laws, and Michigan:
Alabama         50
Kansas         100
North Dakota    25
Oklahoma       125
South Dakota    25
Wyoming         20
Michigan       100    (michigan has a law on the books but has not finished the details of the implementation of regs for licensing yet)

Total          445

走进美国：美国人的针灸情结 Acupuncture and Americans

走进美国：美国人的针灸情结

  http://www.voachinese.com/content/wia-20150211/2639359.html

 走进美国：美国人的针灸情结

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How Old is Acupuncture?

How Old is Acupuncture? Challenging the Neolithic Origins Theory

by Bai Xinghua with RB Baron 

Abstract:

A thorough reevaluation of all extant literature, as well as documents and archaeological relics unearthed since the 1960s, confirms that acupuncture is not as ancient as has generally been assumed, and that it did not, in fact, appear and gradually develop during China”s neolithic Age (c 8000-3500BC). Rather, this great invention arose quite suddenly and rapidly developed approximately two millennial ago.

http://www.academia.edu/7491543/How_Old_is_Acupuncture_Challenging_the_Neolithic_Origins_Theory_by_Bai_Xinghua_with_RB_Baron

Nevada: the first state that fully legalized acupuncture and Chinese medicine in the Unites States — In memory of Arthur Steinberg, Yee Kung Lok and Jim Joyce who made it happen

Nevada: the first state that fully legalized acupuncture and Chinese medicine in the Unites States — In memory of Arthur Steinberg, Yee Kung Lok and Jim Joyce who made it happen.

Nevada: the first state that fully legalized acupuncture and Chinese medicine in the Unites States — In memory of Arthur Steinberg, Yee Kung Lok and Jim Joyce who made it happen

Dr. Arthur Yin Fan’ s two articles

GLOBAL VIEWS Nevada: the first state that fully legalized acupuncture and Chinese medicine in the Unites States — In memory of Arthur Steinberg, Yee Kung Lok and Jim Joyce who made it happen January 19, 2015 | Arthur Yin Fan (doi: 10.1016/S2095-4964(15)60158-3) ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT | PDF

Title: The earliest acupuncture school of the United States incubated in a Tai Chi Center in Los Angeles Authors: Arthur Yin Fan

Abstract | Full text | PDF