Recently I've been involved in creating and hosting a series of documentaries on integrative medicine. The three films are aimed at healthcare professionals. The first is about the science of tai chi, the second is about the science of meditation and the third is about the science of acupuncture. I've just wound up the last on-location filming (interviewing experts) for the acupuncture film, and am struck by how this ancient healing modality is blossoming in popularity across the country.
A healing tool of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), acupuncture has been successfully administered for more than 2,500 years. According to the TCM view, a vital energy called qi flows through the body along channels called meridians. I like to think of these channels as a sprinkling system for the body, bringing qi to vital organs and extremities in much the way hoses bring water to your garden. In the TCM model of health and disease, when qi flow is blocked it stagnates. Stagnating qi causes illness. Acupuncture therapy unblocks the qi flow, strengthens or weakens the qi (think opening and closing the garden spigot) and directs it to areas of need.
A holistic practice, acupuncture seeks to re-establish the body's healthy equilibrium and function, as opposed to forcing healing using surgery or pharmaceuticals. Interestingly, Chinese practitioners were not the only (and may not have been the first) to identify these energy pathways in the body. The frozen body of a man recovered well-preserved from the Alps features tattoos that correspond to Chinese acupuncture's qi meridians.
Much research is afoot to attempt to define qi in Western terms. This is a challenge, as the word runs deeply through not only Chinese medicine, but through Chinese art, literature, philosophy, pugilism and daily life. From the standpoint of Western medical science, qi is likely to be revealed as some amalgam of endorphins, the bioelectric potential of cell membranes, nervous conduction, circulating hormones and perhaps even photons (light) and infrared radiation (heat). In attempting to define and quantify qi, acupuncture research may end up identifying a whole new system of biological information, such as the conduction of impulses through the body's connective tissue.
A typical acupuncture treatment involves penetrating the skin with tiny needles, but some styles of acupuncture (Japanese toyohari, for instance) don't require such penetration. Some researchers link such distant healing to the so-called "non-local" effects of quantum physics. Cutting edge stuff! Still, studying the effects of acupuncture with the traditional, Western, double-blind placebo controlled model presents certain difficulties. These center on the fact that since we don't fully understand how acupuncture works, we don't know what the variables are; not understanding those elements, we can't adequately control for them. More, the term "placebo effect" (as in this treatment or that pill is no more effective than a placebo) is an inaccurate and pejorative term that is rapidly losing relevance as we learn more about the body's ability to heal itself. It turns out that the effect is powerful, and desirable, perhaps the new "gold standard" for the way the body should heal.
Despite the challenges of study design and the mind-bending possibilities for a new understanding of how the body works, acupuncture has been extensively studied and verified both by international studies and by our own National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM). Part of the National Institutes of Health, NCCAM alone sponsors more studies than I can list here, and their website (merely one, orthodox outlet for medical information from a Western point of view) addresses acupuncture for pain, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, osteoarthritis, fibromyalgia and more.
Some folks, including older Western M.D.s, still talk about whether or not they "believe" in acupuncture. Such thinking is ill-informed and outdated. One might as well speculate about whether to believe in aspirin, morphine, insulin, surgery or an MRI. The question is not whether acupuncture works, but how it works, and whether it is the appropriate therapy for a particular syndrome, problem, symptom, disease or patient. In a clinical setting and performed by a licensed professional (licensure is by state) acupuncture is effective for a variety of complaints.
Over the years, I have received acupuncture myself and watched scores of people from different walks of life receive the treatment for a spate of different ills. While practitioners vary in their needling technique, for the most part acupuncture is not painful and gives results readily. Practitioners use smaller needles here than they do in China, and are generally gentler in their application, citing the lower pain threshold of American patients. In China, needles are thicker, longer, and sometimes as enthusiastically "rowed" while in a patient as an oar in the hands of a whitewater kayaker. Ouch. Discomfort seems to be expected by Chinese patients--here, not so much.
In China, the typical course of therapy seems to be every day for 10 days, a break, then another similar course if needed. On our shores it is more typical to go once or twice a week for a month or two before lasting results are gained. Most sessions last 15-30 minutes in a quiet room, during which the patient often falls asleep.
Does insurance pay for acupuncture? In the state of Washington coverage for acupuncture (along with other complementary treatments such as chiropractic and massage) is mandated. In other states it varies by company and policy. If you are paying for treatment out of your own pocket, the cost can add up, but should be weighed against other treatment options, your pain and suffering, and of course the modality's potential to forestall worsening health.
So should you try it? That depends on a variety of factors. Patients who have tried more familiar therapies without success, particularly for a chronic or recurring problem, are good candidates for acupuncture. Another type of candidate might be someone who is reluctant to endure the side effects of some more conventional Western therapies. A third acupuncture patient profile might be the person who wishes to emphasize wellness and prevention over the disease model of medicine and is willing to make concomitant lifestyle changes to achieve optimum health.
If you have needle fears, remember that acupuncture needles are more like a pin--very small and not open-ended like a hypodermic needle. Consider going to see a treatment and having a close look at the needle, or, if you have a real phobia, choose the nonpenetrating form of the therapy (toyohari) mentioned earlier. It's best not to expect results overnight, even though I have heard tell that it can sometimes interrupt a grand mal epileptic seizure, end an asthma attack and drop blood pressure quickly. Given time, acupuncture may be effective in addiction therapy (including helping patients stop smoking) weight loss, increasing fertility, treating back pain, migraine headaches and the symptoms of fibromyalgia, and valuable in a host of other chronic conditions.
Pushed along by cultural and financial forces, American medicine is evolving. Old prejudices are giving way to open minds. The new model of integrative medicine is patient centered, and embraces any and all effective solutions to the patient's health problems. Read, learn, ask questions, and take advantage of all options available to you in your quest to get well and stay that way.
Follow Arthur Rosenfeld on Twitter: www.twitter.com/machobuddha
Larry Malerba, D.O. : How Today's Medical Apartheid Is Sinking the Health Care System
Acupuncture - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Acupuncture.Com - Gateway to Chinese Medicine, Health and Wellness
Acupuncture [NCCAM Health Information]
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Regards
Chris Curley
www.acupunctureology.com
I think acupuncture is one of the best preventive medical practices we have. I wish I could go every week, but my insurance does not cover the treatments. I wish it did.
http://graciouslivingdaybyday.com/
That isn't placebo, it's misperception. The evidence suggests one thing but it's a conflation of circumstances.
It really isn't a debate. Acupuncture doesn't work because it cannot work -- just as voodoo, lucky charms and speaking to the dead cannot work. But sometimes when they're used, the circumstances change. Therein, lies the reason such practices continue.
In the book The Genie in Your Genes, you can find a photo of the actual accupuncture meridian. Many books, especially the works of Dr. Bruce Lipton, prove conclusively that energy healing is effective. The effects are clearly explained and documented. There is no longer ANY question.
Please stop posting and distracting people who need these remedys.
And prescribed drugs having value? HA! Not in this universe pal. Most of them are barely more effective than placebos and this is directly from the Pharma studies themselves. The natural order is the ONLY way to go if you want real healing. The evidence is in and it's very clear.
You clearly don't understand oriental medical theory do you? I'm not talking about 'acupuncture'. Acupuncture is just one modality with the larger system of medicine, largely know as TCM or traditional chinese medicine. This system of medicine is very similar and shares a history with Ayurveda (the medicine of India), Unani (persian/greek) and Tibetan Medicine.
The reason acupuncture CAN work is not because of the needles themselves. The whole point with acupuncture is that the individuals (patient's) body/mind are stimulated in very specific ways that help that individual bring about their own healing. Let me repeat this one.... That individual is doing the healing, not the needles themselves. That's why this isn't a bunch of magic, voodoo, hocus pocus. Oriental medical theory has a much different way of understanding, or rather, a way of seeing how the body works. When we use herbal therapy... specific herbs are taken because they have very specific effects on the body. You can understand these effects pharmacologically or you can understand them energetically... either way you look at them, they work.
The Pharma Shill Gambit! http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2006/09/the_pharma_shill_gambit_1.php
Post in a forum like this one, you have to expect to deal with people who disagree with you. Say something people think is wrong and they _will _ disagree with you. If you are calling for people to moderate themselves, even when they are posting within the house rules, it argues that you do not have complete faith in what _you_ post.
I post solely for this reason: http://xkcd.com/386/ though if someone wants me to pay for my 700+ posts on Huffpo, they may.
One of the doctors who trained me in Chinese herbology, once mentioned that one of the reasons herbs and acupuncture are so difficult to properly study is that you can't reduce them. They are inherently multi-system modalities. The number of active components in some of the complex chinese herbal formulas is quite vast. What happens with pharmaceuticals is that they are developed in a very sense, so their effect is very, very narrow. That explains why they have so many side effects and they can be so harsh and sometimes so effective. Herbs and acupuncture are working on multiple systems... you could say the entire body/mind.
In terms of diagnosis... people come in with symptoms, like headache for instance. Headache would be a disease in tcm. That disease, headache, will present uniquely in each individual according to various patterns. Pattern differentiation is major reason why this system works. Each disease pattern will require a specific treatment (needles, herbs, diet, exercise, etc). Those patterns will shift over time, but will always dictate treatment.
Fact is, "western medicine" is code word for studied medicine. All decent peer reviewed studies on acupuncture turned up nil above the usual placebo -which any study gives. This is why they go into the two tactics of first inflating the placebo effect like it's magically wonderful self-healing etc., and then in the same breath discounting the study itself since it's overall negative - finding no real results.
And for those claiming conspiracy by big pharma, why then would physical therapy dodge the conspiracy, you need no drugs for that either. And... a world of acupuncturists seem to be making plenty of money themselves.
There have been no conclusive double blind peer reviewed studies to prove the efficacy of acupuncture.
100% placebo.
And yes, it's been around for 2500 years. So has prayer. That doesn't work either.
As to bashgyrl's comment below regarding the use of the word "may" in describing acupuncture's effectiveness, I can only remind readers here that such language is used in a description of any medical procedure or product. "Try this pill, it may help. We'd like to do the following procedure, it may help." Aspirin may help your pain, an antibiotic may cure your sore throat....but then it may not. As I try to make clear in the piece, acupuncture doesn't work all the time for every patient and every complaint. Human beings are complex, and individual physiology, metabolism, and sensitivities vary. I am not aware that a universal panacea has yet been uncovered.
ok my testimonial... I used to run, I developed Achilles tendinitis.. every step for close to ten years was painful, in one leg then both legs..
doctor after doctor, podiatrist, orthopedist, physical therapist... none could help really.. maybe in the short term- the physical therapist.. the doctors.. what did each prescribe?.. well I had cortozone shot in my Achilles.. worked for 3 months until one day I couldn't walk, other doctors, pain med, muscle relaxers..
finally last summer after a very painful backpacking trip.. I went to an acupuncturist... the FIRST session (which lasted close to 3 hours) I walked without a limp for the first time in 10 years.. I won't go into all the details, but he understood my problem, the muscles that were causing the pain in my achilles and knee...
oh then there is the asthma.. OMG the drugs, the steroids I was given... TWO, that is right TWO sessions with needles in my chest.. asthma mostly GONE.. I just stopped taking the steroids..
acupuncture works... it helps the body heal itself, WITHOUT drugs...
This man LIVED his pain and you dismiss it with one word...anecdotal?
How totally ludicrous.
Psychosomatic? OF COURSE IT IS! It ALL is! The tests are psychosomatic!
The results are psychosomatic! The whole frigging system is psychosomatic.
And that's the whole point! And It can't be X-rayed, MRI'ed, reduced to DNA. or
benefit forever from a replaced T & P valve! Larger sample sizes will just give
you bigger numbers! How big do you need them?
And then what? The individual patient becomes identical to Bobby in Minneapolis
and Sarah in Redmond and Carl in Spokane and Tessie in Pensacola and
Linda in Jersey City and Armando in Houston and Alice in Boston and Robert
in Chicago and Tawisha in Los Angeles and Frank in Shreveport and, and, and,
..... Need more numbers?
Ever try working on one person at a time, the individual?
gave him some quality .( he was 12, and had bad arthritis).
it was so expensive tho..
i wanted to continue it...........but ..the vet charged 160 bucks for one session.
i hate that vets charge so much and rip people off.
But you're right, I've had great success using it myself and for my animals.