Thoughts on Acupuncuture?

[FearoftheNight]

Hey guys. What are your thoughts on Acupuncture? There's one around me and I've been hearing pretty good things regarding chronic pain especially.

 

[ichy]

There's a lot of quackery and mumbo jumbo mixed in with evidence that it does have some benefits for pain and nausea. The proposed mechanism of action behind acupuncture (changing the flow of qi) is laughable as are the more grandiose claims about what it can do, but if you're having chronic pain issues it might be worth a try.

 

[surfsatwerk]

I had it done once. Felt good, but not much different than a good massage.

 

[DougK62]

It's homeopathic, which basically means it has no basis in science. But if you've tried everything else then give it a shot - sometimes people get a good placebo effect from it.

 

[crashtestdummy]

There are many studies that claim to suggest acupuncture is effective for a number of problems, but most of them are not properly controlled with proper sham acupuncture techniques. In trials where they have proper sham techniques, they generally don't give much improvement over the control, though there is a substantial placebo effect.

The answer basically is, if you want it to work, you'll probably notice some placebo effect, but it's not likely to really be doing anything to you.

 

[Fritzo]

I always amuse myself with the thought of a fat person going in to get acupuncture, and when the first needle is inserted, the fat person starts to rapidly deflate and fly around the room.

 

[DCal430]

There is as much evidence that accupuncture works as chiropractic.

 

[coloumb]

Wife has chronic pain in her wrist [from a slip and fall accident with repeated failed surgery repairs from multiple doctors] and recent tendon repair in her left ankle. She says she feels a lot better after Acupuncture.

 

[ichy]

It's homeopathic, which basically means it has no basis in science.

No, it's not. Homeopathy is a different kind of alternative medicine (and unlike acupuncture it has zero evidence whatsoever behind it.)

 

[DougK62]

No, it's not. Homeopathy is a different kind of alternative medicine (and unlike acupuncture it has zero evidence whatsoever behind it.)

I mixed up my terms. You're right, homeopathy and acupuncture fall under the broader umbrella of "alternative medicine" - which still means that they have no basis in science.

 

[swanysto]

I don't think I would go if I had serious problems, but it does look like a relaxing experience. I really think it is something I would enjoy. Of course I also like when the better half plucks the 5-10 hairs in between my eyebrows so that I don't have a redneck unibrow. So I might be weird.

 

[torpid]

It's a great way to buy a boat in installments. Each time you go, you put down an additional $100-150 for the boat. Then, after several months, the boat can be purchased and your acupuncturist might even invite you onto the boat they just bought with your payments for some acupuncture. For a mere $200-300 (did I mention it is also a great way to buy a house in installments?)

 

[ichy]

I mixed up my terms. You're right, homeopathy and acupuncture fall under the broader umbrella of "alternative medicine" - which still means that they have no basis in science.

Homeopathy is 100% quackery. Acupuncture is also about 90% BS, but there's some limited and flawed evidence that it makes some people feel better. The only reason I don't write acupuncture off completely is because modern medicine doesn't have the most stellar record with many types of chronic pain.

 

[nanette1985]

Friend of mine's Chinese husband is an acupuncturist. I've never had any side effects or problems. It does help my rheumatoid arthritis. He's a very good acupuncturist. Very relaxing and comfortable.

 

[Gibsons]

Friend of mine's Chinese husband is an acupuncturist. I've never had any side effects or problems. It does help my rheumatoid arthritis. He's a very good acupuncturist. Very relaxing and comfortable.

Have you ever been to a bad acupuncturist?

 

[DrPizza]

I mixed up my terms. You're right, homeopathy and acupuncture fall under the broader umbrella of "alternative medicine" - which still means that they have no basis in science.

I'm not sure why people keep saying this. Repeating it over and over doesn't make it true. Go to scholar.google.com and look for research yourself. It took me about 1.5 seconds to find thousands of pieces of scientific research on acupuncture. (And I narrowed the search to most recent articles.) Just because I'm skeptical myself doesn't mean that I refuse to look at the research being done. And, it appears that there's quite a bit of scientific research that demonstrates that it DOES work.

Electroacupuncture has demonstrated benefit for chemotherapy-induced acute vomiting

CONCLUSIONS: The limited amount of high-quality evidence suggests that real acupuncture is more effective than sham acupuncture for improving symptoms of patients with FMS. However, because this conclusion is based on a single high-quality study, further high-quality randomized trials are needed to provide more robust data on effectiveness.

It is concluded that there is good evidence from controlled studies for the short-term effectiveness of acupuncture in relieving clinical pain.

The effectiveness of acupuncture in managing the pain of primary dysmenorrhea was investigated in a randomized and controlled prospective clinical study. Forty-three women were followed for one year in one of four groups: the Real Acupuncture group was given appropriate acupuncture and the Placebo Acupuncture group was given random point acupuncture on a weekly basis for three menstrual cycles; the Standard Control group was followed without medical or acupuncture intervention; the Visitation Control group had monthly nonacupuncture visits with the project physician for three cycles. In the Real Acupuncture group, 10 of 11 (90.9%) women showed improvement; in the Placebo Acupuncture group, 4 of 11 (36.4%); in the Standard Control group, 2 of 11 (18.2%); and in the Visitation Control group 1 of 10 (10%). There was a 41% reduction of analgesic medication used by the women in the Real Acupuncture group after their treatment series, and no change or increased use of medication seen in the other groups.

I picked 4 articles at random.


I do believe that you're correct about homeopathy - there's zero evidence supporting it. Ditto praying for someone to get better (in double blind studies, though in situations where the patient knows there are many people praying, that seems to lead to a more positive outlook which is also associated with greater chances of improvement.) But, chiropractic medicine also has evidence supporting its use for certain indications - chronic pain. It (afaik) doesn't have any evidence supporting its use for what we'd all refer to as quackery - e.g., claims that it will cure the common cold. But, for pain, particularly back pain, it seems just as effective as many non-alternative forms of medicine. Hence, many insurance companies cover chiropractic care.

 

[AznAnarchy99]

When I think of acupuncture, I think of this scene:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1zWErSEPdQ

Gets a little gruesome @ 2:30ish.

 

[Atomic Playboy]

There have been scientific experiments that show that accupuncture and chriopractic services can have beneficial effects in certain scenarios. Unfortunately, these fields are not very well researched, they don't have a governing body like medicine in general, and that leads to a lot of quackery where people will insist that getting your spine cracked every week or your feet routinely stabbed with tiny needles will help you beat cancer or counter night blindness or balance your chakra, all of which boils down to pure bullshit. If you get it through a medical doctor, there's a good chance you're getting something legitimately beneficial. If you find someone who sells you on a weekly chi cleansing, you're just throwing your money down a hole that will probably end with you feeling worse long-term.

 

[SirStev0]

I'd try it. Once.
Acupuncture has been around for thousands of years. Got a little bit of a trackrecord.

 

[IGBT]

insist on use once disposable needles. You don't want somebody elses HIV/AIDS.

 

[Sust]

Nature neuro article here about a possible mechanism of action that's pretty solid.
Im not sold yet since no one has replicated/published the results, but with more molecular investigation this could be somewhat promising for chronic pain patients.

 

[crashtestdummy]

I'm not sure why people keep saying this. Repeating it over and over doesn't make it true. Go to scholar.google.com and look for research yourself. It took me about 1.5 seconds to find thousands of pieces of scientific research on acupuncture. (And I narrowed the search to most recent articles.) Just because I'm skeptical myself doesn't mean that I refuse to look at the research being done. And, it appears that there's quite a bit of scientific research that demonstrates that it DOES work.

Most of the better studies out there are inconclusive. The problem has to do with what defines "control". In cases where less acupuncture is done, or none at all, acupuncture appears to do a lot of good. Where the sham is acupuncture needles placed in random locations (not supposed to be associated with specific treatment), the results are inconclusive at best. There may be something to the body response of having needles stuck in you anywhere, but I would hardly call that acupuncture. (As a side note, also be wary of any acupuncture study from China.)

It's also been shown that in general, the patient response is affected much more by the affection for their practitioner than anything else.

 

[ichy]

I'd try it. Once.
Acupuncture has been around for thousands of years. Got a little bit of a trackrecord.

So was bleeding and all kinds of other retarded remedies that did more harm than good. I want scientific evidence, not superstition.

 

[pelov]

The answer basically is, if you want it to work, you'll probably notice some placebo effect, but it's not likely to really be doing anything to you.

You can't tell him about the placebo effect! Good going. Now it'll never work

 

[FearoftheNight]

hmm. have to look into this more. seems that mainly it's not regulated so it's hard to find a good one