Matthew Bauer: Acupuncture Now Foundation, Minimum effective dosage – #3
Matthew Bauer is the president of the Acupuncture Now Foundation. Matthew began his full-time practice of acupuncture and Chinese Medicine in 1986 after several years of studying Taoist history and philosophy with a 74th generation Taoist Master. Matthew has worked with several acupuncture organizations in the U.S. as well as serving as an Expert Witness in both California State and private cases. He also has long worked in the Managed Care industry helping to create the first managed care acupuncture-based Utilization guidelines. In that role Matthew took part in a Think-Tank with a dozen experienced Acupuncturists from the U.S., Mainland China, Taiwan, and Korea. That experience convinced Matthew of the need to find ways to gather experienced Acupuncturists together to share their knowledge to further our understanding of this ancient healing system. Matthew has authored dozens of articles and two books and he has a passion for educating people about acupuncture believing it to be a responsibility of those who understand how it works to share this knowledge with those who don’t.
Why you should listen – Matthew talks about why the Acupuncture Now Foundation was formed and what it’s goals are. Matthew also talks about the problem in research study designs in which a suboptimal dosage is used in the “true” acupuncture group resulting in below industry average success rates and false negatives for the true acupuncture groups compared to sham groups. Nonetheless both groups still outperform usual care (physiotherapy and drugs) by as much as twice the effectiveness. Matthew lays out what is needed to do to fix these these problems, as well as a need for acupuncturists to rally around some centralized movement to demand better standards and fairer treatment in future research studies.
SHOW NOTES
0m 0s – Introduction of Matthew Bauer
1m 45s – What is the Acupuncture Now Foundation?
4m 20s – Twice as effective and safer
- German Acupuncture study for chronic low back pain
- Dan Cherkin’s Acupuncture study for chronic low back pain
- Matthew’s article Real Acupuncture or Real World Acupuncture?
8m 20s – How to explain Acupuncture to a non-healthcare professional (video on homepage)
10m 45s – ANF’s white paper research project on minimal effective dosage for Acupuncture in the real world and trials.
30m 25s – Establish when we are over-treating and finding the best dosage for that individual patient
36m 56s – What other design flaws has Matthew seen in Acupuncture trials?
45m 24s – True acupuncture is under performing in studies
49m 45s – Acupuncture and dry needling safety as an expert witness
- How safe is Acupuncture?
- Pneumothorax from dry needling
- Pneumothorax from acupuncture performed by chiropractor not licensed in acupuncture
- Pneumothorax from acupuncture performed by massage therapist
59m 0s – What would Matthew like to see in future studies (control arms, dosing schedules, establish appropriate dosage, other variables)
1hr 7m 14s – Matthew’s two books
- Healing Power Of Acupressure and Acupuncture
- Making Acupuncture Pay: Real-World Advice for Successful Private Practice
1hr 18m 5s – Final thoughts from Matthew