In a series of articles on quitting smoking for the Great American Smokeout, the Consumer Reports Medical Guide has said that Acupuncture is ineffective at helping people quit, according to their analysis of current studies. Article here

From the article: "One study found that people who had acupuncture when they were giving up opium had less pain and fewer withdrawal symptoms than people who didn't get the treatment. So people thought this treatment might help ease withdrawal symptoms for people who are giving up nicotine. Unfortunately, research shows this isn't the case."

Accupressure has been around for more than 5,000 years in Asia. Fingers are used
to press key points on the surface of the skin to stimulate the body’s immune system and natural pain killers.

Back pain, one of the most common job-related disabilities, is more effectivily treated with Acupressure used in traditional Chinese medicine than physiotherapy.

It reduced pain in the lower back better, a study in the British Medical Journal showed.

People receiving one month of acupressure had less lower back pain, less interference with work, and they called in sick on fewer days than those on physical therapy, according to the study’s authors from the Institute of Preventive Medicine at National Taiwan University in Taipei.

Source: Bloomberg

I found this little gem coming off of some funny blog lines. Read the entire entry ...

The AAOM sent out a notice today on their work with the Traditional Medicines Congress. Click the link below to download a .pdf of the draft.

China has decided to encourage efforts to prevent the bird flu spreading with all available tools it can, including using TCM. An article in Xinhua reports that the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine (SATCM) has launched a working group to supervise and coordinate the study.

SATCM has come up with a working herbal formula to use and is expanding efforts to study its use to further prevent the already 2 reported human transmissions.

China's Ministry of Health on Wednesday confirmed two human cases and one suspected case of H5N1 bird flu. The two confirmed cases involve a nine-year-old boy in Xiangtan County of Hunan Province, central China, and a 24-year-old woman farmer in Zongyang County of Anhui Province in the east.

Thanks to feralazn for pointing this one out to me.