Patients with long-term pain who have not found a treatment through Western medicine are slowly turning to other solutions like Eastern medicine.
Dr. Teri Powers, the academic dean of Samra University of Oriental Medicine in Los Angeles, had a patient with no other solution to her 18 months of pain from potentially fatal conditions of shingles, a by-product of chicken pox.
Acupuncture and Chinese medicine are widely known around the world, taught in medical schools outside of the United States. Though Eastern medicine, which includes both acupuncture and Chinese medicine, is fairly new to the West, it is increasing in popularity among patients and practitioners.
Outside of acupuncture, Eastern medicine comes in other forms such as meditation, massage and tai chi.
In Eastern medicine, energy flows through meridians, or pathways, around the body. Some medical practitioners studying Eastern medicine believe this energy is called qi, Powers said.
Eastern and Western medicine can be defined by a basic analogy, said Dr. Ka-Kit Hui, the director of the UCLA Center for East-West Medicine.
“Think of Western medicine as looking at the trees and Eastern medicine as looking at the forest, or a system,” Hui said.
For example, instead of Tylenol, lifestyle changes may solve a headache in the long run, Hui said.
Students can experience Eastern medicine at the UCLA Ashe Center and the John Wooden Center.
The implementation of acupuncture, massages, tai chi and yoga originated from student requests at least five years ago, said Chris Lewis, interim director of the Ashe Center.
The program is very well utilized. Acupuncture’s schedule is usually full, she said.
Eastern medicine is starting to become widely recognized because of its benefits.
In general, Eastern medicine is less costly in appropriate hands. It is usually safer and perhaps more affordable than some of the diagnostic techniques and treatments of Western medicine. In addition, Western medicine may have adverse side effects, Hui said.
If a doctor prescribes a medication or if it’s something from the drug store, it does not mean that it is entirely healthy, despite its approval by the Federal Drug Administration, Powers said.
A patient should consider doing something less invasive than medications for treatment, Powers said.
This does not mean that Western medicine should not be considered; it still has certain advantages.
Someone could get the best out of both Eastern and Western medicine, Hui said.
While both are important, each one may be better for certain conditions.
Western medicine is best for saving lives in an emergency, and Eastern medicine is more effective for chronic illnesses, Powers said.
“I would go to the hospital if I were to have a heart attack … (but) for pain, there is nothing better than acupuncture,” Powers said.
The trend toward incorporating Western medicine with Eastern medicine is apparent. Many American practitioners are practicing acupuncture because of its overall effectiveness, said Sandi Chiu, a third-year psychobiology student and president of a new UCLA student group called Nutrition, Complimentary and Alternative Medicine.
Chiu once volunteered to experience needle acupuncture during a chiropractic school orientation. The needles did not feel like anything, but she felt a lot of activity going on around the needles on her knees, head and hands. It could have been blood or qi energy, she said.
“(Needle acupuncture) feels like (how it would feel) after exercising, a natural high feeling,” Chiu said.
“In general, people like to try to find whatever may work for them, whether it is Eastern medicine or other healing traditions such as Chinese medicine,” Hui said.
Chiu said she believes college students should know more about alternative medicine. She recommends small acupressure exercises, which she sometimes does to her friends.
A simple exercise is squeezing the area between your thumb and index finger, holding it until a tingly sensation is felt. This exercise gets rid of minor headaches, and it takes less than five minutes.
“I do it because it’s really easy. … It’s like a short break,” she said.
The incorporation of Eastern medicine has been progressing slowly because of hampering state and federal regulations in America, such as not covering acupuncture in some insurance companies.
But Americans have been demanding alternative medicine despite legislation and insurance rules, Powers said.
Though the United States is a country that does not make learning Eastern medicine mandatory for medical students, it is gradually acknowledging it. Alternative medicine is a growing field, Powers said.