Susan Salvo is a Licensed Massage Therapist, Natural Therapeutic Specialist, and a Certified Instructor. Ms. Salvo holds an associate in history and a baccalaureate in education from McNeese State University , where she is currently working on her master's degree. She received her massage training from the New Mexico School of Natural Therapeutics in Albuquerque where she completed a 1000-hour program in 1982. Ms. Salvo's training includes: cadaver labs, polarity, infant massage instructor, myotherapy, Trager, hakomi, reflexology, sports massage, craniosacral therapy, neuromuscular therapy, body mobilization techniques, spa specialist, and watsu. She has studied under many talented people including Bonnie Prudden, Ben Benjamin, Bob King, Benny Vaughn, Maria Mathias, and Harold Dull. She owns and operates ""Bodyworks Massage Therapy by Susan Salvo and Associates"" which she founded in Lake Charles in 1983. Bodyworks specializes in deep Swedish, relaxation massage, watsu, and spa packages. Ms. Salvo is a charter member of the Louisiana Chapter of the American Massage Therapy Association and has served as: President, Second Vice President, Secretary, Chairman of the Board, and Education Director. In 1989 she was honored with the title ""Member of the Year"" by the Louisiana AMTA. Ms. Salvo is nationally certified by the National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork. In 1987 she founded the Louisiana AMTA sports massage team, which is still active today.

For more information visit: www.LaMassageSchool.com.

OBJECTIVES: To determine the effect of acupuncture in treating hot flushes in perimenopausal or postmenopausal women. METHODS: The study was a randomised single-blind sham-controlled clinical trial. Perimenopausal or postmenopausal women with moderate or severe hot flushes were randomised to receive real or sham acupuncture. Both groups underwent a 4-week run-in period before the treatment. The real acupuncture group received 11 acupuncture treatments for 7 weeks, and the control group underwent sham acupuncture on non-acupuncture points during the same period. Both groups were followed for 8 weeks after the end of treatment period. Changes from baseline in the hot flush scores at week 7, measured by multiplying the hot flush frequency and severity, were the primary outcome. Hot flush frequency, severity and menopause-related symptoms measured with the Menopause Rating Scale Questionnaire were regarded as secondary outcomes. RESULTS: 54 participants were randomised into the real acupuncture group (n=27) and the sham acupuncture group (n=27). The mean change in hot flush scores was -6.4±5.2 in the real acupuncture group and -5.6±9.2 in the sham group at week 7 from values at the start of the acupuncture treatment (10.0±8.1 vs 11.7±12.6), respectively (p=0.0810). No serious adverse events were observed during the whole study period. CONCLUSIONS: Compared to sham acupuncture, acupuncture failed to show significantly different effects on the hot flush scores but showed partial benefits on the hot flush severity. Further consideration is needed to develop appropriate strategies for distinguishing non-specific effects from observed overall effectiveness of acupuncture for hot flushes. Whether acupuncture has point-specific effects for hot flushes should be also considered in designing future researches.

Acupunct Med. 2011 Jun 8. Kim DI, Jeong JC, Kim KH, Rho JJ, Choi MS, Yoon SH, Choi SM, Kang KW, Ahn HY, Lee MS. 1Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, College of Traditional Korean Medicine, Dongguk University, Seoul, South Korea.