What is the Clinical Evidence for Auricular Medicine
This page is not intended as a complete reference but just reflects my personal history delving into this topic and may serve as a starting point for your own explorations. My External Links page on this site will have links you can follow to connect with courses, books and articles, and web resources that may be helpful for you.
Dr. Jay Holder DC first stimulated my interest in auriculotherapy. Among his many achievments he has developed ground breaking tools for objective chiropractic diagnosis and treatment, and for auriculotherapy. He has co-authored a landmark paper published in Molecular Psychiatry in 2001 entitled "Increasing retention rates among the chemically dependent in residential treatment: auriculotherapy and subluxation-based chiropractic care" which presents just stunning results in the treatment of Reward Deficiency Syndrome (addiction mechanism) and demonstrates the efficacy of chiropractic combined with auriculotherapy for the treatment of alcohol addiction.
In 2006 I attended the third world congress on auricular medicine, auriculotherapy, and ear acupuncture held in Chicago. Here I was introduced to the top experts from around the world as they unfolded their presentations and workshops. I was exposed to seminars and lectures by Dr. David Alimi who has demonstrated the existence of the reflex connections between the ear and the body by fMRI, Drs. F. Bahr and B. Strittmatter who are the gatekeepers for the German auricular medicine program, Dr. R. Nogier who continues in the tradition of his father Dr. Paul Nogier who is the father of modern auricular medicine, American proponents Dr. N. Soliman and Dr. Terry Oleson. Also presenting were Dr. M. Smith whose experience is the foundation of the very popular NADA program for the treatment of addictions, and Dr. R. Niemtzow who promotes a simple and effective pain management protocol, as well as many others from around the world. The most recent congress took place in Singapore in August of 2017. See the "External Links" page to link to a report.
With this exposure I was inspired to become certified with the American Auriculotherapy Certification Institute and to go on to more advanced training with Dr. M. Agnes who was teaching the only German Auricular Medicine certification courses in English in the world (see CIAM in "External Links" page) with foundational help from Dr. B. Strittmatter and others. I have also availed myself to advanced courses taught by Dr.R.Nogier whose methodologies are a little different from the German program but no less profound and instructive.
My enthusiasm for this field is maintained in part by recognizing that the lessons and insights of auricular medicine can function as a validation and as a bridge to theories of chiropratic and acupuncture, which I both love, and which helps to bring these fields closer together.
