This episode is one of a series that was recorded at the American Academy of Medical Acupuncture’s symposium in St. Louis, Missouri.
In this interview we go behind the scenes in the hospital and see how Dr. Christopherson used acupuncture to help patients come out of anesthesia, treat a wide variety of pain and help the staff of operating rooms find their own most lucid balance.
She also shares with us some personal experiences using acupuncture to help her husband with circulatory issues, and how she treated supposedly untreatable conditions.
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Show Highlights:
1:53 Treating neuropathy with acupuncture.
7:14 But it is impossible to treat neuropathy with acupuncture! Or is it?
10:39 Using acupuncture before and after surgery.
14:44 Other conditions that acupuncture is used for in the hospital setting.
15:32 Battlefield acupuncture.
19:08 Not just for pain, consider using acupuncture for these conditions as well.
20:28 How does acupuncture work?
23:57 A story about how acupuncture can dramatically improve circulation for pressure ulcers.
Rose Christopherson, Ph.D, M.D.
I’ve both a Ph.D in Philosophy and an M.D. I did my internship and residency in anesthesiology at Johns Hopkins Hospital. Then stayed on to do a fellowship in vascular and thoracic anesthesia. While in grad school I fell in love and married John Combs, a cancer researcher and pathology professor at Hershey Medical School.
We came west to Portland, Oregon, in 1996, where I worked as a staff anesthesiologist at the Portland VA Medical Center (PVAMC), with a joint appointment as associate professor at Oregon Health and Science University. For several years I edited the Society of Cardiovascular Anesthesiologists Newsletter. Additionally, I’ve done research on cancer and epidural anesthesia.
My colleague Diane Miller went to the Helms Medical Institute (HMI) School of Acupuncture at UCLA in the early 2000’s. While learning and practicing she cured my acid reflux, kept my ancient mother from falling, and helped John with health issues resulting in pain. All this lead to my studying Taoist meditation, and going to HMI to learn acupuncture myself.
I did perioperative acupuncture until 2010 when I retired. My dear John suffered with various circulatory illnesses and I worked hard with acupuncture and western medicine to help him with his many health challenges toward the end of his life. This taught me much about the ways in which ancient and modern medicine could be used together.
Currently I have an acupuncture clinic at Augustana Lutheran Church, and volunteer at the Veterans Acupuncture Project, in Portland, Oregon.
