April 2025 – AAMA Member Newsletter

Welcome Our New AAMA Members

Please join us in welcoming the following new members who became part of the Academy in February 2025:

• Michael J. Bourgeois, DO, of Beachwood, OH
• Kelly Lindsay, MD, of Morgantown, WV
• ZhanTao Yang, DO, of Bentleyville, OH

If you have peers or colleagues who aren’t currently members of the AAMA, please encourage them to learn more about the benefits of membership by visiting the website or contacting Kendra Unger, the membership committee chair.

DON’T FORGET: If you would like to sponsor a medical student member for $75/year, please email AAMA today and let us know.

New AAMA Fellow Elected!

Congratulations to the following member who was elected to be a Fellow of the Academy during the Symposium:

• Sanjay Reddy, MD, FAAMA

If you are interested in becoming a Fellow next year, deadlines for next year’s application process will be announced shortly on the AAMA website.

Annual Scientific Poster Presentation Winners Announced

Thank you to all of the authors who submitted poster abstracts for this year’s Symposium, and congratulations to the following poster winners, whose outstanding work was displayed at the Symposium reception where authors were available to discuss their work. The lively session featured discussion of each authors’ research and results.

• 3rd Prize – E.A.R.S. (Ear Acupressure for the Resiliency of Staff) Program – Using Self-Administered Ear Acupressure Seeds for Health Care Providers to Mitigate Symptoms of Burnout Syndrome — Hilary Ong, MD; Augusta Saulys, MD; Newton Abdo, BSc; Robyn Adcock, DACM, LAc
• 2nd Prize  – The Role of Du Channel Treatment in Fertility: A Case Study of a 30-Year-Old Female with Spinal Scar Tissue and Recurrent Miscarriage — Iris Guo, DAOM, FABORM; Dongyun Liang, OMD
• 1st Prize – From Needles to Numbers: Leveraging Electronic Medical Records in Acupuncture Studies — Samuel E. Mathis, MD; Trevor L. Murphy; Hasan Yasin

UPenn Research: More U.S. Patients Use Acupuncture for Low Back Pain, But it Remains Rare

Research from Penn LDI published by JAMA Network Open: “As insurance coverage for acupuncture rose from 2010 to 2019, more people started using the treatment. Given the prevalence of low back pain, LDI Senior Fellow Molly Candon and colleagues analyzed national insurance claims to understand the characteristics of people with the condition who use acupuncture and how they combine it with other treatments. They found that less than 1% of individuals with low back pain were reimbursed for acupuncture in 2010 and that number increased to 1.6% in 2019. Asian, female, middle-aged, and college-educated patients, as well as those with incomes over $100,000 and people with chronic low back pain, were more likely to use acupuncture. Electroacupuncture use remained steady, with similar patterns. Compared with nonusers, those getting acupuncture were more likely to engage in physical therapy and were twice as likely to receive chiropractic care and psychotherapy. People who received acupuncture and/or electroacupuncture were less likely to use pharmacologic treatments. The researchers note that the overall low use of acupuncture among people with low back pain may stem from limited or less generous insurance coverage. Medicare began covering acupuncture for the condition in 2020, which could expand access, as Medicare decisions often influence other insurers.” READ MORE.

Duke Research: Trial Shows Acupuncture is Feasible for Reducing Pain in the Emergency Department

A randomized, controlled clinical trial conducted in the Duke University Hospital emergency department shows that providing acupuncture to treat acute musculoskeletal pain in addition to usual care is feasible even in this busy setting, and can reduce pain better than usual care alone.

“Musculoskeletal pain is really hard to treat in the emergency department, and medication alone only achieves a one-to-two-point reduction in pain scores on average,” said first author Stephanie Eucker, MD, PhD, assistant professor of emergency medicine at Duke University School of Medicine. “We were able to get at least that much, if not more, of a pain reduction on average in patients who received acupuncture. We found there was an additive effect of additional pain relief with acupuncture on top of what patients were already experiencing with medications alone.”  The study was published in October 2024 in the journal Annals of Emergency Medicine.

Are You Following Us?

Join the conversations online with fellow physician acupuncturists from around the country! You can find AAMA on:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/american-academy-of-medical-acupuncture/about/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/AAMAcupuncture
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AAMAmedicalacupuncture/
• Instagram: @aamacupuncture

There’s even a closed group on Facebook for discussion between members: https://www.facebook.com/groups/aamagroup