Acupuncture effective (and cost effective) for low back pain

[Richard D]

Acupuncture can be effective in treating patients with low back pain and the benefits seem to improve with time, according to research published on Friday. The ancient Chinese treatment, which involves inserting fine needles at specific meridians of the body, is a popular complementary therapy for a variety of ailments.

Hugh MacPherson and scientists at the University of York in England said the benefits of a short course of acupuncture were evident in their study of 241 back pain sufferers.

"If you offer acupuncture to someone with back pain on average it is expected you are likely to benefit, not just in the short term but particularly in the longer-term of 12 and especially 24 months," he said in an interview. "That's a remarkable finding in that normally you would expect the benefit of the treatment to wear off," MacPherson added.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060914/ts_nm/acupuncture_dc

[badgerpup]

1. Had good results with it in treating sciatica...

Nothing else worked...5 treatments, and BINGO!
It's NICE to quit hurting....
:woohoo:

[Demobrat]

2. I can attest to this.

In fact I've found acupuncture to be the ONLY thing that works.

[LostInAnomie]

3. My completely uninformed, non-medical opinion...

... is that the placebo effect can be very powerful.

[Richard D]

4. But . . .

. . . not as powerful nor as long lasting as acupuncture, as shown in this study. BTW, I've seen acupuncture work on dogs, cats, horses, especially race horses, and even heard about it being used on tropical fish and goldfish. Not exactly susceptible to placebo effect, these critters.

[DemExpat]

7. It works very well for some conditions, and not as a placebo imo...

with my old dog and his epilepsy and deafness - after 4 treatments his epileptic fits disappeared for over one year, (They were occurring every 5-7 days for 3 months) and he regained a good amount of his hearing that he had lost.

I tried several treatments - regular and CAM - with the same "benevolent intention" for placebo to work for the pet/owner relationship - but only the acupuncture had excellent results.

:kick:

DemEx

[Recursion]

6. pubmed.com is your friend

There are about 10,000 articles containing the word 'acupuncture' in the journals indexed by pubmed, and a similar number indexed by google scholar. There's a pretty substantial body of research indicating that accupuncture is more effective than many drugs for chronic pain relief, with many fewer side effects. Acute pain relief seems to be less of its forte, and few studies seem to have been done to test other health claims made by acupuncturists, but its effectiveness for chronic pain (and for inducing labor) are very well documented.

[trotsky]

8. That acupuncture works for pain relief is understood and accepted.

What is completely unsupported is that it works via the means that acupuncturists and their patients think that it works - by somehow modifying "energy flow" in the body. Instead, the mechanism is likely simple interference in neural pathways, either mechanically or via the release of endorphins. Simple stuff, not magical at all, and certainly not unique to acupuncture.

[Richard D]

9. The thing about that theory is . . .

. . . that the release of endorphins or even mechanical interference to nerve flow will only last 12 hours or so. It doesn't explain what is stated in the above article - long term relief after a year or two. Nor does it explain how someone with, for example severe daily migraines, can get a course of acupuncture treatments and never have another migraine again. I've personally seen long term relief and even elimination of all symptoms for such diverse conditions as chronic anxiety and depression, digestive problems, tinnitus, diarrhea, heart palpitations, insomnia, urinary tract infections, gallbladder problems . . . and I could go on. None of which can be explained by what is currently "known" about how acupuncture works.

[trotsky]

10. Some pain is chronic only because it can't be alleviated, even momentarily

Once relieved, the mechanism causing the pain is also relieved, and the pain doesn't come back. Like I said, pretty simple stuff.

Maybe somewhere else you can present your anecdotal evidence. Here it won't fly.

[Richard D]

11. If you want more than anecdotal evidenc . . .

. . . which translates to over 22 years experience in the field, do a pubmed search on acupuncture. If that doesn't fly for you, well, perhaps your pre-conceived ideas are a bit blinding.

[trotsky]

12. I've done so.

Look at what turns up.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=16186474&query_hl=1&itool=pubmed_DocSum
CONCLUSIONS: Acupuncture is not superior to sham treatment for recovery in activities of daily living and health-related quality of life after stroke

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=10728182&dopt=Abstract
In conclusion, acupuncture does not promote weight loss and is not recommendable in the treatment of obesity.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed&cmd=Retrieve&dopt=AbstractPlus&list_uids=16414335&query_hl=4&itool=pubmed_docsum
Overall, controlled studies of acupuncture did not reliably improve hot flashes, sleep disturbances, or mood when compared with nonspecific acupuncture, estrogen therapy, or superficial needling.

There's lots of hits and misses - but still NOTHING that contradicts my initial point: that acupuncture does indeed work for some things, but the mechanism by which it works has never been shown to be that it "manipulates" the "energy flow" in a person. So while you accuse me of having "blinding" "pre-conceived ideas," I suggest you take a good long look at your own.

[Richard D]

13. It is notoriously hard to . .

. . . do double blind placebo controlled studies with acupuncture. To correctly put in a needle - which takes months if not years to learn how to do - you would know if the point was a real point or a sham point, so no double-blind control there. If a non-acupuncturist puts in the needle they will not be doing so correctly, so there will likely not be a proper effect anyway.

As far as the acupuncture theory goes - well that is a longer discussion. IMNVHO the theory gives creates a map for how to choose the correct points and how to do the needling. As to the existence of points and meridians and Qi, well, that will remain to be discovered by Western science, or dis-proven. Right now there are no accurate instruments that measure Qi, if it exists. I don't even think anyone really know where or how to look for that. It's not electrical though we do know that most of the acupuncture points have a lowered electrical resistance at their location. What does that mean? Good question. I've also seen photos of peoples skin changing color along meridians while getting Chinese style acupuncture. I've not personally seen this myself. What does that mean? Good question. The Chinese researchers think it validates the existence of the acupuncture meridians. Does it? Good question, and people are still asking that one.

Back to the manipulation of energy - perhaps there is energy, perhaps not. But the acupuncture does have a long lasting if not permanent effect on a great many people who receive it. Remains to be discovered by scientists, of which I am not, to figure out why. Good luck on em. For me, I just like to get people well. Pretty good at it too. My first patient, 23 years ago, had migraines 3-4 times a week. Debilitating type, vomiting, locking himself in a dark room, extreme pain. 23 years later, still no migraines. Maybe I treated him just at the right time and he wouldn't have had the migraines anymore even without treatment. Who knows. All I know is that he's a damn happy camper about it.

I could tell dozens if not thousands of such stories, but they admittedly are "anecdotal". Like I said, I'm not a scientist. Just a clinician trying to help people out of their illnesses.

An excellent book that tackles these questions is called "Dao of Chinese Medicine: Understanding an Ancient Healing Art. by Donald (Deke) Kendall. http://www.amazon.com/Dao-Chinese-Medicine-Understanding-Ancient/dp/0195921046/sr=8-1/qid=1158352943/ref=sr_1_1/103-9402020-9213415?ie=UTF8&s=books

He does make good strides at explaining a lot of this. I believe his background, before becoming an acupuncturist, was an electrical engineer. I haven't read it yet, but it has great reviews and since I've known Deke for nearly 25 years (don't tell him I haven't read it yet, please), I know it's going to be very well researched and original.

Sorry about the snipe. Still recovering from the idiot in chiefs speechifying this morning and I'm a bit cranky.

[melnjones]

5. helps a lot more than that...

helped my IBS, acne, sinus issues, and headaches. Couldn't afford to go for some weeks and they flared back up a little...go back tomorrow, so that's good.