Integrative Approaches to Pediatric Chronic Pain in an Urban Safety-Net Hospital: Cost Savings, Clinical Benefits, and Safety.

Chronic pain experienced by children and adolescents represents a significant burden in terms of health, quality of life, and economic costs to U.S. families.

Pain and Opioid Use: Evidence for Integrating Acupuncture Into Treatment Planning.

The epidemics of pain and opioid use pose unique challenges. Comprehensive approaches are required to address minds, bodies and spirits of individuals who live with pain and/or opioid use. The lack of an effective "quick fix" for either condition necessitates developing effective, innovative and multi-disciplinary avenues for treatment.

A cross-sectional review of the prevalence of integrative medicine in pediatric pain clinics across the United States.

Purpose: This project assesses the prevalence of integrative medicine (IM) in pediatric pain clinics (PPCs) across the United States.

Methods: PPCs were identified through the American Pain Society and cross referenced through the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP). A cross-sectional review using each PPC's website was then utilized for further information.

Acupuncture and relaxation response for craving and anxiety reduction among military veterans in recovery from substance use disorder.

Background And Objectives: Substance use disorder (SUD) is a major health issue, especially among military veterans. We previously reported the effects of auricular acupuncture and the relaxation response (RR) on reducing craving and anxiety following 10-week interventions among veterans who were in recovery from SUDs. Our current analysis examines effects following each intervention session and RR daily practice.

Acupuncture and the relaxation response for treating gastrointestinal symptoms in HIV patients on highly active antiretroviral therapy.

Objectives: To examine the effect of acupuncture and the relaxation response (RR) for treating gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms in HIV patients who are using highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART).

Methods: The authors conducted a 4-arm 2×2 double-blind randomised controlled trial in an acupuncture clinic in the USA. Sham acupuncture and health education were used as the control conditions of real acupuncture and RR elicitation, respectively.

The combined effect of relaxation response and acupuncture on quality of life in patients with HIV: a pilot study.

Objectives: Treatment advances have transformed human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immune deficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) into a chronic manageable disease; quality of life (QoL) has become an important health outcome. Some studies have shown the individual effects of acupuncture and the relaxation response (RR) in improving QoL of patients with HIV/AIDS. In light of the presumed shared features of acupuncture and the RR, we conducted a pilot study to examine the effects of adding the RR to usual acupuncture treatment on improving the QoL of HIV/AIDS patients.

Relaxation response with acupuncture trial in patients with HIV: feasibility and participant experiences.

Objectives: The study of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) using a randomized, controlled trial (RCT) design poses challenges, such as treatment standardization and blinding. We designed an RCT, which avoided these two common challenges, to evaluate the effect of adding the relaxation response (RR) to usual acupuncture treatment. In this paper, we report on the feasibility and patients' experience from the study participation.

Price elasticities for three types of CAM services: Experiences of a Boston Public Health Clinic.

Objectives: This paper addresses price elasticity, an indicator for the responsiveness of demand for healthcare to changes in price, in the context of a large public health clinic that provides acupuncture, Chinese herbal medicine, and shiatsu.

Design: The study is descriptive and observational. The observations resulted from a "natural experiment" and involved examining utilization before and after a 5 dollars(17%) price increase for all services.