East works with West at UCLA Medical Center

By Marjorie Hernandez
Daily Bruin Reporter

After long days of lifting and playing with children,
kindergarten and preschool principal Linda Kaufman was left with
severe migraine headaches and a paralyzing pain in her neck and
left arm. At the end of each night, Kaufman would take at least 20
Advils.

Kaufman went to her internist, who suggested she visit the UCLA
Center for East-West Medicine. Upon visiting the center and
completing a medical history questionnaire, Kaufman was diagnosed
with chronic neck and upper back pain. Within 30 minutes of
acupressure and acupuncture, her aches had subsided.

“It was an unbelievable feeling. I was excited. I felt
like I could skip,” Kaufman said. “I had energy “¦
and I felt like I could make it through another day.”

Testimonies like Kaufman’s and others were shared at the
sixth annual conference “Improving Quality of Life:
Integrative Approaches to Pain and Cancer” held at the
Doubletree Guest Suits in Santa Monica. The three-day conference,
which began Friday, brought together about 80 physicians, patients
and medical students to discuss the integration of traditional
eastern techniques with western medicine.

Traditionally, the eastern approach looks at the body and mind
as a system and its interaction with the social and natural
environment. Western medicine focuses mainly on treatment of
ailments and diseases. According to Ka Kit Hui, the director of the
Center for East-West Medicine, the use of complimentary and
alternative medicine along with modern health care continues to
grow.

“We hope to form the concepts and approaches of this new
paradigm of health care that incorporates the best of both
conventional biomedicine and traditional Chinese medicine based on
the knowledge of signs, philosophy and clinical experience,”
Hui said.

“We want use this forum to show that we can provide the
kind of healthcare system that’s not only effective and safe,
but also accessible,” Hui continued.

In traditional Chinese medicine, stagnation of Qi, or life
energy, can cause feelings of irritability, mood swings and mental
depression.

Methods such as acupuncture navigate Qi through various pathways
in the body known as meridians to specific gateways or
accupoints.

According to Steven Aung, a professor at the University of
Alberta who specializes in geriatric and family medicine, the
needling causes a response in the brain which stimulates the
release of endorphins and neurotransmitters.

Through research and clinical application over the years,
traditional Chinese methods have gained recognition as accepted
treatments. In 1997 the National Institutes of Health approved
acupuncture as a treatment for nausea resulting from chemotherapy,
vomiting and post-operative dental pain.

Xiuling Ma, a panelist and research acupuncture director at the
Daniel Freeman Hospital of USC School of Medicine, cited numerous
clinical applications of traditional Chinese methods, including
herbs and acupuncture, to treat such ailments as arthritis, mumps,
coronary heart disease, diabetes, bronchitis and the common
cold.

“Medicine should not have an East-West division ““ it
should emphasize the well-being of the patient,” Aung
said.

“It is important that we look at a person as a whole. The
most important ingredient is compassion. Without love and kindness,
there is no healing,” Aung said.