Kristen Sparrow, MD Acupuncture

Ancient Medicine Made Modern

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June 2016

More Good News from Acupuncture Research

I was busy with travel, family responsibilities and my presentation for the American Academy of Medical Acupuncturists in April, so news was delayed. But no longer, please read on!

Costa Brava Spain: Dali Castle Pubol

Fitness and Health

1. Melatonin is a very safe sleep aid, first explored in the context of jet lag. But now is recognized to be helpful for many types of insomnia. Recent work shows that it may have other health benefits also, including cancer fighting properties in larger doses, also for migraine prophylaxis, and also a great anti-inflammatory agent, improving cardiac function and blood pressure, and

2. Cosmetic Acupuncture is a popular part of my practice. As patients know, I encourage the use of a microdermal roller. This post links to a nice discussion of the benefits of acupuncture and microdermal rolling.

3. Alzheimer's Amyloid B protein, may have an immune function. It may be involved in fighting infection, or perhaps be yet another autoimmune phenomenon. This gives yet another angle to try and curb this disease. The intersection between stress and autoimmune conditions is a focus of my research.

4. For those not aware of the Theranos story, I've been following this from early on(click to read a brief sypnopsis). It is a company with a young founder who dropped out of Stanford to compete with the big blood testing companies using just a drop of blood instead of vials. It was a great story and lots of heavy hitters (Henry Kissinger, David Boies among others) got on board. But it's gone from dream to nightmare and I just wonder what happened to all the expertise from the older board members. It's agonizing also with so few women founders that this one would have such a dramatic downfall. Icarus etc..

Acupuncture Research News

1.A study was re-evaluated showing that acupuncture was helpful for knee pain when studied in patients over 50 years old. It was significantly better than laser acupuncture or control.


Stretching helps knees too

2. Indwelling needles are very effective in relieving the shortness of breath experienced by end stage lung cancer patients. More great work by Jacqueline Filshie.
3. Allergies are a common complaint in the clinic. This recent study verifies that acupuncture lowers Dust Mite IGE with consistent treatment.
4. Nice study showing the brain physiology behind Acupuncture effectiveness for high blood pressure. I am treating more and more patients with mild to moderate blood pressure and help them to get off of their medications.
5. For completeness sake, a pdf version of my talk for the AAMA is here.