Science proves acupuncture is sound medicine

[mr blur]

Apparently.

Acupuncture works – but it does so thanks to orthodox scientific principles and not because of the centuries-old Chinese philosophy on which it is based, a leading acupuncturist has said – on the day the British medical establishment adopted the technique.


Adrian White, editor-in-chief of the journal Acupuncture In Medicine, said the principles of acupuncture were firmly grounded in science. "You don't need Chinese philosophy either to make it work or to practise it."

His remarks, at a reception to mark the first venture into the world of alternative medicine by the BMJ Group, publishers of the British Medical Journal, ruffled feathers in the traditional acupuncture world.

The BMJ Group is taking over publication of Acupuncture In Medicine. It aims to build up an evidence base for acupuncture treatment and to help doctors practise it. Dr White, a clinical research fellow at the University of Plymouth and trained acupuncturist, said the public and doctors had a distorted view of acupuncture which had hindered its acceptance in medicine and its wider use in pain control after surgery, and in conditions ranging from nausea to arthritis.

"One of the major problems facing medical acupuncture is preconceived notions. The perception is that acupuncture is all about chi and meridians.

"In the past, it was easy for scientists to dismiss acupuncture as highly implausible when its workings were couched in these terms. But it becomes very plausible when explained in terms of neurophysiology. Unfortunately, the scientific approach just isn't as sexy."

<snip>

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-wellbeing/health-news/science-proves-acupuncture-is-sound-medicine-1644893.html

[beam me up scottie]

1. Go BMJ! I'm looking forward to the results.

Take the woo out of science!

[uriel1972]

2. Well that nails it,

"Unfortunately, the scientific approach just isn't as sexy." I think this is why a lot of science is disregarded. It is complex, involved and dry. It doesn't have "miracles" and so on, just a lot of effort and unanswered questions. Also whilst some of us find it interesting and indeed fascinating, others take it for granted like the light switch; it goes on and off don't need to know why.

Magic is much more exciting and appealing, it only has to make limited sense and doesn't ordinarily require much complex thought from it's participants. Plus you get to change the world just by thinking about it, no real effort required.

Those of us who practice evidence based reality may get called killjoys, but when push comes to shove our methods tend to work consistently as opposed to "miracle" cures and "magic" and "Pseudoscience" the science that you do when you're not doing science.

[CanSocDem]

3. Yeh, that's what I thought too.

Ancient chinese medicine out performs ModernMedicineInc. but that's OK because we know how it works....

Of course, for it to be truly accepted in western medicine, the AMA has to figure out a way to deliver the placebo version. As a major component of MMInc, the time and money saving practice of not actually 'delivering' healthcare, but still appearing to do so, requires the highly effective in-house scam known as PLACEBO.

What'll it be....wooden needles??? Do-it-yourself kits???


.

[Warpy]

4. Paranoia is an ugly thing

Get a grip, evidence based medicine is dedicated to not relying on the delivery of placebo.

The delivery of placebo care is what the average shaman or modern herbalist is engaged in--and at top price.

[CanSocDem]

5. Maybe even worse than ignorance

Critics of alternative medicine say its enduring appeal is explained by the placebo effect. When conventional therapies fail to help chronic or poorly understood conditions, the acupuncturist, homeopathist or chiropractor steps into the breach with a potent belief system ready-made to help the suffering patient. ''If a guy in a white coat or a guy dressed in feathers can induce a patient's immune system to fight back, who is to say which is better?'' said Dr. Dan Molerman, a medical anthropologist at the University of Michigan at Dearborn.

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CEED9...


.

[Warpy]

6. When a patient is sitting in front of me with a life threatening infection

I'll reach for the antibiotics instead of calling a shaman, thanks, because the antibiotics have been proven to work on all the bugs susceptible to it.

The placebo only works on only about 50% of the population.

[Orrex]

8. Whatever you do, don't squeeze the shaman

[Warpy]

10. Jebus is gonna get you for that one

Just you wait and see.

[uriel1972]

7. By your logic

Aspirin is a placebo version of willow-bark. By finding out how something works we can make it more consistent and effective. And by the way how is delivering a more effective and consistent treatment a scam?

[TZ]

9. .

The bigot rears his head

[Djinn]

12. interestingly (though probably not to true believers)

most of what is considered "ancient chinese medicine" was invented in the 1940's & 50's.

Also the majority of people living in China have turned away from unproven "medicine" in favour of proven ModernMedicineInc (those evil bastards who came up with that silly germ theory nonsense instead of sticking to the "ancient wisdom" of miasma's)

Funny that the people who supposedly utilised this "ancient" art form have mostly given it the flick. Funny how when the west gave up on untested nonsense our life expectancies shot up, as opposed to the life expectancies of "ancient" people using witch doctors, can't imagine why that might be....

[bluedawg12]

11. I think the jury is still out on acupuncture.

at least from this issue of the BMJ January 2009:

http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/338/jan27_2/a3115

"Conclusions A small analgesic effect of acupuncture was found, which seems to lack clinical relevance and cannot be clearly distinguished from bias. Whether needling at acupuncture points, or at any site, reduces pain independently of the psychological impact of the treatment ritual is unclear. "

They did desrcribe the sham acupncture techniques:

"Type of placebo acupuncture
We ranked the various placebo acupuncture interventions on a 1-5 scale, where 1 represents a placebo treatment that was most likely to produce physiological effects. We ranked needling at acupuncture points without electrical stimulation but indicator lights on as 1w3 w6; needling at non-acupuncture points with electrical stimulation as 2w5; superficial needling at non-acupuncture points (20-50 mm) avoiding Qi and manual stimulation as 3w1 w2 w7 w8 w10-w12; non-penetrating needle as 4w9; and laser turned off, held over the symptomatic points without using any mechanical pressure as 5.w4 "

"Thus, contrary to what would be expected, the tendency was for larger effects of acupuncture when the comparative placebo procedure was penetrative.

We found a small difference between acupuncture and placebo acupuncture and a moderate difference between placebo acupuncture and no acupuncture. The effect of placebo acupuncture varied considerably."

"We did find a greater effect of acupuncture in the 10 trials with penetrative placebo needles compared with the only two trials that used non-penetrative placebo needles (P=0.04). This is contrary to what one would have expected, and we regard it as a chance finding. "

"We suggest that future trials on acupuncture for pain focus on two strategies. Firstly, researchers could try to reduce bias by ensuring blinding when possible. For example, blinding of the healthcare provider can be achieved by having the needling done by acupuncture naïve clinicians blinded to the hypothesis of the trial. Secondly, researchers could try to separate the effects involved: the physiological effect of needling at acupuncture sites or at other sites and the psychological effect of the treatment ritual or of the patient-provider interaction more broadly.30 "