Healthspan Blog

John Weeks' The Integrator Blog featured an interesting article on Working Class Acupuncture, a Portland, Oregon clinic built on the concept of making acupuncture more affordable.

As Lisa Rohleder, LAc, began trying to make sense of the business of professional acupuncture, she witnessed two distinct phenomena. First, she observed that a huge percentage of the working poor and even the middle class of people in the United States cannot afford to pay for acupuncture treatment when individual appointments cost $65-$200. Second, Rohleder observed that over 50% of graduates of acupuncture schools abandon practice without ever figuring out how to make a living at it.

What's wrong with these pictures? The price-point for an acupuncture treatment seemed to her to be related to both problems.

I highly recommend you read John's piece regardless of your modality. His interview with Lisa Rohleder is quite interesting, and also contains the basic financials for the business model she's using and actively promoting. The fact that it makes a great service more affordable and can help practitioners earn more at the same time makes it doubly compelling.

Related Links:

Integrator Blog Article
Working Class Acupuncture site

PS - You might also want to check out Rohleder's book The Remedy: Integrating Acupuncture into American Health Care, as well as her free ebook love your microbusiness: marketing for a community-based acupuncture practice a short, but very sweet manifesto on practice growth.

In Passo, Fundo Brazil geneticist Adil Pacheco took blood samples last Friday from three puppies in a poor neighborhood in in southern Brazil to settle a dispute over a claim they were born from a cat.

“It’s rather simple really. If the puppies prove to have 78 chromosomes, they are dogs. If they have 38, they are cats,” said Pacheco, director of the Institute of Biological Sciences of the University of Passo Fundo.

“But I seriously doubt they are feline. Every characteristic about them is canine.”  This is probably a hoax because there is no documented cases of dog and cats being able to mate successfully.

There are a million conceivable things to do when you start your practice, but what's really important in the big picture? What's going to lead to increased referrals and practice growth? Here's a few seemingly innocent but critical things to do from day one. And if you're already well past day one, fear not - it's never too late to start.

Track Your Referrals
Discovering where your referrals come from is the single best way to get more of them. You can use my "five P's" or something of your own, but make sure you track them from day one. Before you know it, it's going to be day one of year two and having referral source data is going to be incredibly helpful in figuring out how to spend your marketing dollars.

Accept Debit and Credit Cards
Just do it. I know it's expensive. I know it's a hassle. Just do it.

Still not convinced? Follow the link.

Make Sure the Phone Is Answered
You might not be able to afford a receptionist right away (although I think you should take the risk). But if you miss those calls, you're going to lose business. Consider an answering service at the least - one that can book appointments on your behalf.

Act Like You're Busy
Whether you want to treat this as metaphysics or practical behaviour, acting as if you're a busy CAM practitioner from day one is going to get you there faster. It's particularly helpful in how you manage your appointments.

Pay Yourself
Get in the habit of paying yourself consistently. It's far too easy for your practice to consume all the cash flow, and for you to find yourself five years down the road still breaking even. Just look at how easy it is to spend all the money in your personal bank account. Your expenses have a habit of rising to meet the available cash, and your practice is no different.

It doesn't matter how much. Ten bucks a month is fine - what's important is to start the habit. Just set up an automated system and forget about it (except for regular raises!). Everyone in practice can afford ten bucks, and believe me, it will make a difference.

And don't forget those raises. Stretch yourself. Pay a tiny bit past what you can afford, and you'll find your practice will grow to accommodate the increased expense.

Stem cells may be responsible for tumors, according to two separate studies published on Sunday.

Canadian and Italian researchers both found that specialized colon cancer stem cells appeared to be the sources of colon cancer tumors in mice.

Their findings, published in the journal Nature, support the idea that future cancer treatments will have to target cancer stem cells, instead of the type of wide array treatments used today.

Similar findings have been seen for leukemia, breast and brain cancers, but the two studies are the first to show cancer stem cells are also responsible for colon tumors.

“Colon cancer is one of the best-understood neoplasms (tumors) from a genetic perspective, yet it remains the second most common cause of cancer-related death (in Canada), indicating that some of its cancer cells are not eradicated by current therapies,”

“These new studies demonstrate that a small number of colon cancer cells, distinct from those that make up the bulk of a tumor, initiate tumor growth,” Nature said in a statement.

It may be possible to design drugs that attack only those cells, and thus treat colon cancer in a way that better affects the tumors without hurting healthy cells, the researchers said.

Asthma is a respiratory condition that, unfortunately, is becoming more common the world over. Today there are over 100 million sufferers world wide, and this figure is on the rise to the tune of 50% every decade.

Asthma can be defined as a chronic inflammatory disease of the airways, that is characterized by spasm of the bronchi (airway tubes)with inflammation and swelling of the mucous membranes leading to an over production of thick phlegm in the lung and airways.

This phlegm sets off a response within the body characterized by typical asthma symptoms such as chronic coughing (especially at night), wheezing, difficulty in breathing and the difficult expectoration of thick, sticky phlegm. If not treated immediately, breathing can be impeded to the point of respiratory failure.

There are certain factors that can predispose one to having asthma. A family history of asthma or some history of allergies, definitely increases your chances of having asthma.

If you were weaned and introduced to solid food at an early age (6 months or less)the chances of you having food allergies and possibly asthma as a consequence increases dramatically. This is due to an immature digestive system being asked to digest foods it is not capable of at that time.

This places a significant stress on the under developed immune system of the baby that can lead to allergies and asthma.

Another common food related factor are food additives such as food colorings and preservatives. These factors are especially problematic for an asthma sufferer as they are in virtually everything that we eat and drink. This places a cumulative daily stress on the already stressed immune system of the asthma sufferer.

Some other dietary factors worth considering are, excessive salt intake and its connection to asthma and asthma mortality rates and dairy products which are notorious for their ability to produce phlegm.

And then there are the obvious airborne environmental allergens that we are forced to contend with. Dust, dust mites, pollens, cockroach waste and pet hair as well as allergens like pesticides (to kill the cockroaches) cleaning chemicals, perfumes and fuels (gas, petrol) pollution (air, water). The list is endless.

And if that is not enough asthma can occur as a result of excessive exercise, cold temperature, sudden emotional upset and can also be a part of a viral infection, that can occur during the virus as well as post viral.

Treatment for asthma is based around a treatment program that attempts to lessen the symptoms medicinally, while simultaneously removing whatever allergy provoking substances are in the asthmatics environment.

Most people these days look to a combination of conventional medicine (puffers for example) and alternative/herbal medicine. The combination works especially well, with many traditional herbs such as Ephedra and Gingko Biloba having a long tradition of effectively treating asthma and respiratory disorders.

As far as removing asthma causing substances from the environment, this can be a difficult. The obvious methods revolve around adequate and appropriate cleaning. Appropriate cleaning would be cleaning that doesn’t complicate things by introducing another toxic substance into the picture.

Some mould cleaners are known to irritate allergy and asthma sufferers, yet we need to remove the mould from the asthmatics environment.

Fortunately these days there are many products that have been created that take this into account. Always use hypo-allergenic cleaning products.

Dust must be removed. Regular vacuuming is a must. Preferably with a vacuum fitted with an air filter that will stop “micro dust” being put back into the air as you vacuum.

An air filtration system or at least a portable air filter would also help considerably.

Pets should never be allowed in the bedroom, and ideally not in the house, although many asthma sufferers are more likely to put up with their symptoms rather than cast out their pets.

Dietary measures that can help are as much as possible removing foods high in salt, preservatives, coloring, waxes and pesticides. Wherever possible, choose organically grown and processed foods.

If this is not practical, make a habit of gently washing your food before you eat it. A bit of a nuisance for sure, but it really doesn’t take all that long and is easy enough to fit into your food preparation routine. And it can make a big difference to your over stressed immune system.

If you go to the bother of carrying out these changes you will be pleased to hear that you should experience a reduction in your asthma symptoms in as little as a month.

As far as what to eat or not eat when you have asthma, most research seems to be indicating that a “Vegan” diet (NO animal food products)is your best option as animal food products often have significant pesticide residues.

If this diet is too harsh and restrictive, and it will be for many, a general reduction of animal food products will help some. Your results will largely be determined by how bad your asthma is and how much of a vegan style diet you can live with. At the very least, you can reduce if not totally eliminate animal food products.

At this point in time there are more questions than answers when it comes to the causes of asthma. The biggest question is why are asthma rates doubling every 20 years?

It seems that as good as our current treatments for asthma are, we can increase their effectiveness dramatically if we practice some preventive care.

Perhaps we will never find a “cure” for asthma. As our world gets more and more complex in terms of the stress and strain we place on our bodies, the answer seems to move farther and farther away.

The most effective treatment for any disease is prevention. Knowing what we do about asthma and knowing the effect that environmental and emotional factors can have on our immune system, if we can begin to clean up our lives on all levels, this may be our best chance of finding the next best thing to a cure for asthma. Permanent prevention.

Brad Bahr is the editor of many health related websites and publications. He has been testing and reviewing nutritional supplements for over 20 years. After trying hundreds of products, he recommends one supplement above all others for renewing health and energy: http://www.hgh-facts.com

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