Mainstream Media Covers Complementary Medicine

Dr. Oz is now a well-known name in households across America since Winfrey began featuring his popular segment on The Oprah Winfrey Show. The popular vice chair of surgery and professor of cardiac surgery at Columbia University, and founder and director of the complementary medicine program at New York Presbyterian Columbia, is bringing alternative medicine healing arts to the mainstream public.

He is an avid believer and user of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and taught the viewing audience all about acupressure, explaining energy meridians and how their disruption can cause headaches and other various body pains.

His live demonstrations, using Oprah as the guinea pig, included applying pressure between the thumb and index finger to release endorphins and relieve headaches. Other acupressure techniques included applying pressure above the wrist to relieve motion sickness and to the trapezius muscle to relieve stress.

Meghan Vivo, associate editor of Acupuncture Today, reported other pressure points in the foot that can bring relief for menstrual problems, bloating and blurry vision.

Dr. Oz explained to Oprah how he is working diligently to merge the philosophies of Eastern and Western medicines.

"Every patient that I operate on at New York Presbyterian hospital gets a reflexology-type treatment – a treatment that is based on energy and rejuvenating the patient," states Dr. Oz.

Check out other AltMD articles on Dr. Oz’s efforts to bring complementary medicine to the forefront of American ideas on healing.