Letter from the EditorLet me take this opportunity to introduce you to our new journal, Medical Paradigm: Defining a New Balance in Health Care.Medical Paradigm will publish papers that explore the integration of Eastern body arts into traditional Western medicine. Such integration is becoming common throughout the medical field and will continue to do so as Eastern therapies influence and affect our modern medical understanding. Although the journal will emphasize the integration of body arts into modern practice, it will in no way be limited to that topic. Medical Paradigm will also investigate the relationship between those arts and more traditional pharmaceutical, surgical, and rehabilitation modalities. Medical Paradigm will also examine the interplay between the body arts and other complementary and alternative therapies such as massage and nutrition.With the rise in new understandings of those long-established arts, the very definition of medicine is changing—a new paradigm is being created. Medical Paradigm plans to be at the forefront of that change. To fulfill those plans, we are seeking papers, or even proposals for review, from interested clinicians and researchers. All papers will undergo a rigorous peer-review process by an editorial board composed of experts in both medicine and the body arts. That board includes some of the most renowned names in their fields. For example, Ann Berger, MD, is director of the division of Pain and Palliative Care at the National Institutes of Health. She is a leading proponent of adding complementary medicine to more traditional approaches. Ken Cohen, master of qi gong and tai chi chuan, was one of the subjects in the Menninger Clinic “copper wall” experiments that verified the existence of the human energy field. Paul Lam, MD, is not only world-renowned for teaching tai chi, but is also active in research into the uses of tai chi to control a variety of health problems. Ken Leight, PhD, is head of the integrated pain program at the Bacharach Rehabilitation Hospital and is deeply familiar with all aspects of chronic pain and the variety of therapies used to control it. Alan Gross, MD, is a leading orthopedist.In addition to the individuals mentioned above, we are pleased also to have enlisted the help of these prestigious clinicians:
- Tome Nacsimento, MD (cardiology)
- Til Uhlig, MD (rheumatology)
- John Santoro, DO (gastroenterology)
- Ron Caplan, PhD (public health)
- Peter Gravett, MD (hematology)
- Stefan Mustata, MD (nephrology)
Each and every one of those practitioners has the expertise and knowledge to strictly evaluate a paper. Moreover, rather then rely on older, slower methods of evaluation, the board of Medical Paradigm will use the ScholarOne online review system. Using ScholarOne resources, the editorial board will be able to read papers, add or delete suggestions, and make recommendations in a timely fashion, from anywhere in the world, provided they have access to a computer. Using ScholarOne resources, review turnaround becomes a matter of days rather than the more typical weeks, permitting us to prepare papers for publication within a much shorter time span.Why publish this journal now? We asked ourselves that very question before committing time and money to the endeavor.If you look at current research, you find not only that the quantity is huge, but also that publication is scattered across a variety of journals and disciplines. Authors and readers have no one source to which they can turn for in-depth research, clinical reviews, or practical methods. For example, in just the past two years, publications have examined topics such as these:
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- The effects of tai chi on the reoccurrence of shingles in elderly women
- The results of a randomized clinical trial of tai chi chuan on pain, balance, and muscle strength
- The use of qi gong therapy for detoxification of heroin addicts
- The results of an explorative study in qi gong therapy for cancer in China
- The use of yoga in pediatric pain management
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Virtually all of this research revealed that, with the addition of tai chi, yoga, or qi gong, patients tended to heal more rapidly, outcomes were typically better, and quality of life was improved.Unfortunately, unless you knew where tolook, finding these articles would have been costly and time consuming. Medical Paradigm solves that problem by offering a single venue for all papers exploring the link between the body arts, mind, and health. Moreover, the journal’s goal will be to take the strong anecdotal evidence for such claims further, publishing work that defines and substantiates the effects of the body arts on health.The first issue of Medical Paradigm will be out in spring 2004. Please contact the publisher for a copy or subscription information.Thank you,Dr. Mark J. Langweiler |
