Local Researchers Receive National Award for Acupuncture Research
Contact :Vicki Hohnroth (513) 585-7200
Northern Kentucky-In April, Steven Scheer, M.D., physician acupuncturist and medical director of The St. Luke Hospitals Sleep Disorders Centers, will accept an award from the Medical Acupuncture Research Foundation for work conducted by Scheer and a team of local researchers. The team's research indicates that acupuncture can treat a speech disorder called adductor spasmodic dysphonia.
Spasmodic dysphonia is a vocal disorder that usually appears in adulthood in both males and females. A mild, strained hoarseness may develop over months or years into a more intensely strained voice, disabling the ability to speak. The usual treatment for patients with adductor spasmodic dysphonia is injections of botulinum toxin into the muscles controlling the vocal folds to temporarily halt the adductor spasm. "The current treatments for this disorder can be painful and traumatic," says Scheer. Through this study, the researchers learned that participants who suffer from this disorder showed a positive response from acupuncture.
The researchers will receive a second place national award from The Medical Acupuncture Research Foundation, an organization that was developed to fund more research in the area of acupuncture. Scheer will accept the award at the organization's national meeting in April.
Researchers who also contributed to this study included Linda Lee, Ph.D., University of Cincinnati; Joseph C. Stemple, Ph.D., Blaine Block Institute for Voice Analysis and Rehabilitation in Dayton, Ohio; Samantha Daughton, M.A., University of Cincinnati; Barbara Weinrich, Ph.D., Miami University; Tracy Miller-Seiler, M.A., Miami University; Scott Goeller, M.D., Sure Care Medical Center in Dayton, Ohio; and Linda Levin, Ph.D., Center for Biostatistical Services at the University of Cincinnati.
The St. Luke Hospitals are part of the Health Alliance, an integrated health care delivery system, which also includes The Christ Hospital, The University Hospital, The Jewish Hospital, The Fort Hamilton Hospital and the physicians of Alliance Primary Care.
Editors--To arrange to see a demonstration of this research or to interview
Dr. Scheer please call 513-585-7200.