Officials Eye Acupuncture as Alternative to Opioids

Massage Therapy Canada reports that acupuncture is being increasingly embraced by both patients and doctors as an alternative to opioids.

According to the article published online this week, “Many opioid addictions begin with patients in pain seeking help, and acupuncture is increasingly seen as a way to help keep some patients from ever having to go on opioids in the first place.”

Though federal research evaluators say more research is needed on the effects of acupuncture on pain, more doctors are willing to let their patients try it, especially when used as an alternative to the powerful painkillers driving the nation’s opioid crisis.

In addition, officials in the military and office of Veterans Affairs (VA) promote acupuncture as a pain treatment option: the Pentagon and the VA are teaming up with the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health to spend $81 million on research projects to study the effectiveness of a variety of nondrug approaches to treating chronic pain.

Read the full article here.

Category: 

News

Increasing Education Hours: A Trend on the Rise

Due to a revised federal rule change, states with minimum-hour education requirements lower than 600 are considering increasing their massage therapy program length. Find out which states have already introduced bills that would raise education hours, which massage boards have proposed and made final rule changes, and why this is becoming a national trend.

Blog

ABMP CE Summit: Headaches

 Headaches.

Join us online Tuesday, April 30, 2024, for the ABMP CE Summit: Headaches, which take learners on a journey from understanding headaches to working with clients with headache pain using multiple modalities and techniques.

New CE Course: Stretching the Hip

Dr. Joe Muscolino displays a massage therapy technique.

The new ABMP CE course, “Stretching the Hip,” is available in the ABMP Education Center to view and earn 1.5 CE hours.

Benefits

Podcast: Cancer, Clots, and COVID—A Complicated Client

A client was recently treated for colon cancer—and it didn’t go well. She had surgical complications, a bout of sepsis, and more. Is massage therapy safe? We discuss on this episode of “I Have a Client Who . . .” Pathology Conversations with Ruth Werner.

Please note: We have recently updated our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use. Learn more...