Internal Medicine

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Internal Medicine

By Bruce H. Robinson, MD
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Bruce Robinson is the author of Biomedicine: A Textbook for Practitioners of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine and a board-certified general surgeon, now retired and pursuing a second career as a medical educator. He is facilitating the integration of Chinese Medicine as an equal partner into the US health care system. He is the president of AIMC Berkeley, located in the San Francisco Bay area, and is the course director for Integrated Medical Solutions, which features a 300-hour training program in Western internal medicine for TCM practitioners.

Take It From Your Peers: You CAN Get Paid to Work in Eldercare and Hospice
My last article focused on keys to opening doors to eldercare and hospice. If you desire to work in these settings, my guess is you have wondered: 1) How do I get my foot in the door? 2) How do I generate a clientele? 3) How can I get paid? All very valid questions!

Falls to Remember
It's September! Hope you had a wonderful summer. This year fall will be really interesting because of a very important election. America now has two classes, a ruling class and the rest of us.

We Get Letters & E-Mail
We Get Letters and E-Mail: One Voice for Chiropractic; Muscle Extensibility: A Few Clarifications; Handle With Care.

Advanced Stretching: Using Neural Inhibition to Enhance the Stretch, Part 1
There is an art and a science to practicing manual and movement therapies. The science yields a set of guidelines that provide the structure for our therapy. We develop this science as an extension of our understanding of the anatomy, physiology, and kinesiology of the body.

What About My Feet?

During a recent session with a regular client of mine, we ended up having a conversation about feet. I cannot remember how the topic came up - maybe he was having particularly bad pain in his feet that day - but we ended up discussing what kind of shoes we wear the majority of the time.

The conversation made me realize that for as much time as I spend working peoples' feet, I have not yet written exclusively about feet and massage, or self-care of feet for practitioners.

Massage therapists are one of the groups of professionals who spend most of their time working on their feet; in addition to pulling, pushing, bending, leaning and lifting. We have a rather "physical" job, and after giving five to eight massages in one day, I know my feet have frequently felt the effects of this.

Advertorials: The Trojan Horses of Publishing
If you recall your ancient history lessons, you will remember the 10-year war waged by the Greeks against the city of Troy. Unable to conquer the city, the Greeks eventually constructed a giant horse, left it on the battlefield and sailed back to Greece - or so the Trojans thought.

Making a Difference
Some people can live their whole lives unconcerned with the state of affairs of their community, the friends they have, or the profession they choose. I think we all know someone like this. It seems the only interest in life they have is simply to make more money.

When a Client Crosses the Line
The sexual assault allegations against Al Gore has elicited much commentary about clients crossing the line sexually. Regardless of the veracity of this particular claim, it is an important topic to explore in-depth. Some clients may "test the waters" about sexual services, while others blatantly cross the line. Massage practitioners must know how to appropriately deal with those situations.

The Digital Landscape: E-Marketing and Social Media
As a businessperson and health care professional, undoubtedly you have heard a lot about the new digital landscape as a driving force in marketing and business growth. To some, it's become a "must" to blog, tweet and have a Facebook page for your business if you want to be up to date.

Soft Tissue Pain: Calcific Tendinitis
Calcific tendinitis in the shoulder is a soft-tissue pain complaint that may be acute but is usually chronic, and affects the rotator cuff tendons. Its symptoms somewhat mimic other conditions such as adhesive capsulitis, rotator cuff disorders, shoulder impingement syndrome.

IMA's Demise
Will Green, the owner and founder of the International Massage Association (IMA), a business that was once a major insurer for the massage therapy community, said in an interview that depression was behind his failure to pay for more than $600,000 in insurance premium payments, an action that has effectively destroy the business.

The Changing World of Education
Back in December 2003, I attended a lecture by William A. Wulf, then president of the National Academy of Engineering. One of his comments that struck me was on the difference between small improvements in technology that make something already being done easier and on the continuing and often unexpected social changes stemming from huge quantitative changes in technology.

Natural Supplements for Migraine Prevention: Butterbur and Feverfew
Migraine headaches afflict one in 19 adults, of which 75 percent are women. Migraines also occur in an estimated 3 percent to 7 percent of children. Overall, one in four households has a resident who is a migraine sufferer.

Year-Round Skin Protection: Are Sun Exposure and Diet Protective Factors?
More than 1 million cases of skin cancer occur each year in the United States, which makes skin cancer the most common type of cancer that Americans develop. Eighty percent are basal-cell carcinoma, 16 percent are squamous-cell carcinoma and 4 percent are melanomas.

Police Group Seeks Even More Control Over Massage Board

After controversial amendments were made to the infamous "anti-prostitution" law of adding "hostile" law enforcement professionals to a California massage board, the bill gets even more contentious with its most recent language.

News in Brief
News in Brief: A Resolution to Recognize National Chiropractic Health Month; NHSU Partners With School for Health and Wellness Event; Logan Alumni Appointed to Positions at Health Centers; CHIRO Study Wins Outstanding Paper Award.

The Chiropractic Action Team (CAT): Solidarity Through Service
In response to the devastating earthquake that struck the Italian city of L'Aquila in 2009 - and for the first time in chiropractic's history on the European continent - a six-month contract of collaboration was successfully completed between the Italian Red Cross and the AIC and ECU.

2010 FSMTB Annual Meeting Held in Member Board Jurisdiction of Puerto Rico
The fifth annual Federation of State Massage Therapy Boards (FSMTB) conference will be held October 7-9 at the El San Juan Hotel & Casino in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Registration is now open.

Gaining Traction: Lasers and the Evidence-Based DC
These are days of intense challenges in the field of chiropractic. Health care reform, competition from other professions performing adjusting, and decreasing insurance coverage plant fear in the hearts of many chiropractors.

Workers' Comp and Chiropractic: A Solution for Skyrocketing Health Care Costs in America
Health care costs are such a burden on the economy that as of 2008, it accounted for 16.2 percent of the national gross domestic product (GDP). The recently enacted health care reform legislation addresses many issues in the health care reform arena, including ensuring that every American has health care coverage.

Chiropractic Around the World: WFC Quarterly Country Reports
The following reports are reprinted with permission from the World Federation of Chiropractic's latest Quarterly World Report (June 2010). To view the complete report, visit www.wfc.org.

Are You Interested in a Little Treatment With That Diagnosis?
I was once a Boy Scout, living in a Boy Scout world and learning Boy Scout things. So I learned about snakes, and how to tell a poisonous one from a non-venomous one. But one sneaky snake is the poisonous coral snake, which looks like the good-guy corn or scarlet king snake.

Lessons Learned From the Recession
In my time on this Earth, I have experienced and survived 13 recessions. The one we're in currently is perhaps the longest and the deepest of all of them. I've observed the most amazing phenomenon whenever we go through hard times; more often than not, chiropractors do well. Why?

A Clinician's Guide to Managing Neck Pain
The nonprofit occupational health and safety research organization Institute for Work & Health, working with Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College, the Ontario Chiropractic Association and executive committee members of the Bone and Joint Decade 2000-2010 Task Force.

The Keys to Building a High-Performance Team
Office and staff management is a constant challenge. Coupled with the ever-changing health care market and frustrations with managed care, running an efficient, clinically sound and profitable office requires tremendous focus.

The Life of Per Henrik Ling
In the early 1800s, Peter Henry Ling (also Per Henrik Ling) was perhaps the first to discover what countless others have since learned in the past centuries: massage is critical for healing pain.

Conservative Treatment of SLAP Tears
When evaluating a shoulder and realizing that there might be a torn labrum, the conservative practitioner often becomes thwarted since, except for surgery, there is no way to repair a torn labrum. Previously, I discussed the variety of tests for diagnosing shoulder labral tears and the type of tears.

Public Health Service Corps to Include DCs?
Reps. Gene Green (D-Texas) and Lee Terry (R-Neb.) have introduced legislation that calls for doctors of chiropractic to be appointed as officers in the U.S. Public Health Service (USPHS) Commissioned Corps, one of the nation's seven uniformed services.

Major Massage Associations Call for CA Legislators to Kill Bill
After months of discussions regarding the infamous "anti-prostitution" law, the California Massage Therapy Council (CAMTC), American Massage Therapy Association-California chapter (AMTA-CA) and Associated Bodywork and Massage Professionals (ABMP) have ended negotiations and have called for an end to Assembly Bill 1822.

CA Bill Heads to Governor's Desk

The highly controversial California Assembly Bill 1822 passed state legislature this week and currently sits on the governor's desk awaiting his review.

On Tuesday, the State Assembly concurred Senate amendments, which includes adding two law enforcement officials to the California Massage Therapy Council (CAMTC). The amendment also stipulates that the California Police Chiefs Association (CPCA) and the California State Sheriffs Association have only authority to select the law enforcement officials.