Neurology Today: Treating the Mind and Body Integrating CAM Therapies into Neurology Practice

By Olga Rukovets

With the opioid crisis fueling increased national interest in finding alternative ways for treating pain, the US Food and Drug Administration published a blueprint for health care providers earlier this year, recommending they learn more about the non-pharmacologic approaches to pain management. Still, in many practices, there remains a sizable gap between traditional and alternative therapies — as well as who administers each.

At the AAN Annual Meeting in April, several neurologists demonstrated how they were working at their own institutions to bridge that divide and improve treatment options.

“I think that one of the biggest problems in the field is that there are ‘traditional’ and ‘alternative’ methods, whereas in reality both treatment methods have benefits and drawbacks. I really do believe that neurologists are perfectly poised to lead the future of pain management because we understand the nervous system better than any other specialty,” said Jennifer Bickel, MD, FAAN, chief of the headache section in the division of neurology and associate professor of pediatrics at Children's Mercy Kansas City and University of Missouri at Kansas City School of Medicine.

Neurology Today spoke to Dr. Bickel and other neurologists about their holistic approaches to pain treatment through the integration of acupuncture, meditation, and/or other mind-body methods with standard neurological care.

Read the full story via Neurology Today.

Learn more about how acupuncture provides headache relief for patients at Children's Mercy.