Review of US Health Policy on Acupuncture Application for Opioid Abuse Crisis

Abstract

Background: Opioids are a class of drugs found in the opium poppy, and used primarily as a pain reliever. About 130 people die every day from opioid abuse in the U.S., and the number of deaths was 6 times higher than it was 20 years ago. Objectives: To derive the implications on Korean Medicine(KM), this study aimed to investigate the current state of opioids abuse in the U.S. and analyze cases to solve opioids abuse using acupuncture. Methods: Literature on opioids abuse in the U.S. were searched through the websites of government, agency, and research institute. Results: There were several cases using acupuncture on opioids abuse. First, the Act on the use of acupuncture was enacted. Second, the clinical practice guidelines by the American College of Physicians recommended using acupuncture. Third, a large clinical study was conducted on whether acupuncture could replace opioids. Fourth, Vermont and Washington State conducted pilot projects on insurance coverage of acupuncture. Conclusions: As opioids issues are also valid in Korea, KM can serve a critical role in pain management to pursue expanded insurance coverage. In order to do so, building the discourses of KM in opioid issues is critical by defining its medical advantage, conducting large-scale clinical researches and implementing pilot projects to tackle social problems.

Intractable Pain Management by Combined Korean Medicine Treatment Including Acupotomy in Lumbar Disc Herniation: A Case Report

“…Lately, in the United States, acupuncture has been recommended as an alternative to acute and chronic pain treatment to avoid opioid abuse 8,9) . As a conservative treatment for LDH, the effects of acupuncture, acupotomy, pharmacopuncture, and herbal medicine have been widely reported [10][11][12] , while the effect of using combined Korean medical treatment in patients with LDH taking opioids because of failure of pain control using conventional analgesic drugs has not been reported.…”