Vol. 4 No. 1 (2025): Clinical Complexity

Editor's Note: 

Dear Colleagues,

Welcome to our current issue, Clinical Complexity. Practitioners intimately understand that the reality of clinical practice involves fluid, interwoven patterns that cannot be reduced to simple cause-and-effect. This complexity—in diagnosis, treatment strategies, and patient responses—has historically been captured through case reports, a tradition spanning over two millennia. The case reports published in Convergent Points are detailed, rigorous, and accurate enough to stand as part of a solid foundation of evidence. 

A considerable strength of traditional East Asian medical (TEAM) systems is the ability to recognize patterns within complex or little-known conditions. Anita Tayyebi's case report on acupuncture for syringomyelia offers practical insights into treating similarly complex neurological symptomatology within an integrated medical framework.

Sara Almaraz's detailed documentation of treating central serous chorioretinopathy with a combination of acupuncture, moxibustion, and Chinese herbal medicine demonstrates the interplay of multiple modalities in addressing a challenging ophthalmological condition.

Finally, Maria Linder and Rhys May's collaborative report on electroacupuncture for post-stroke foot drop and pain illustrates how combining traditional principles with modern techniques can be of enormous and sometimes unexpected benefit, even 30 years after an original cerebral accident.

Convergent Points exists to share the professional bounty that can be found in these detailed clinical narratives. However, we are also aware of the potential problem of making a broad generalization from an individual case. We are particularly excited to be collaborating on a research model that uses multiple sources of pragmatic data, such as case reports or clinical registries, for meaningful and statistically robust findings. A symposium on this collaborative project is scheduled for April 5th, 2025, at the International Society for Acupuncture Research's annual conference in Newport Beach, California. We hope you join us!

As you explore this issue, we invite you to consider how clinical experiences might contribute to our growing body of knowledge. Every carefully documented case report adds to our collective understanding of TEAM's effectiveness in real-world settings.

Thank you for your continued engagement with Convergent Points. Simply by reading, you are supporting thoughtful documentation and analysis of clinical practice in our field.

Warm regards, 

Kathleen Lumiere, DAOM, LAc, Editor