Abstract
Acupuncture appears to be a timeless modality. Illnesses that appeared thousands of years ago —not understood according to today's knowledge of biochemistry, biophysics, physiology, anatomy, infectious diseases, genetics, etc.—were treated with acupuncture. Its success was judged by the bedside eyes of the ancient clinician who could only hope what future discoveries might bring. As the years advanced, so did medicine, with each generation of clinicians claiming to be more modern than their predecessors. As time passed, acupuncture was not dropped by the wayside, but, instead, was adjusted to new medical discoveries with the advancing knowledge of each generation.
Thus, acupuncture continued to be timeless despite the escalation of modern medicine. More recently, we needed to uplift acupuncture and demonstrate its own evidence-based medicine to compete with the criticism of Western-medicine physicians. Each acupuncture generation had to offer even more proof-of-concept for the most discerning critic. Will this be an endless endeavor? Perhaps it is an attainable dream that acupuncture can lead us to better medicine. Will this new decade offer even more scientific and medical discoveries than our ancestors even dreamt of? One might think so. Let us be humble at the bedsides of our patients as we face not knowing the cure for some of their diseases.
We can only wonder what future discoveries might bring. Each issue of Medical Acupuncture helps propel us forward. Might you imagine what would be if this information were available centuries ago? But let's be realistic that we live in the present and wish to keep current on acupuncture. We live in a world of advancing technology and information is now at our fingertips. We are able to communicate almost instantaneously with anyone in the world and share data. All of this has become a virtual explosion of information overload. Medical Acupuncture helps filter this medical knowledge for you. Our talented editorial staff representing a worldwide faculty of experts, works diligently to advise the Editor-in-Chief and the authors. This effort continues to build a valued reference base of knowledge. How lucky we are, compared to our ancestors of a thousand years ago. Yet, we still face the same challenges when confronted with our patients; many disease processes just escape us. May this new decade—2020—be a renaissance of wisdom and love for the art of acupuncture and bestow upon us the motivation and fortitude to cure our patients.
—Richard C. Niemtzow, MD, PhD, MPH