Acupuncture refers to a family of procedures that involves the stimulation of specific anatomical points throughout the body. It is considered one of the oldest healing practices, and is categorized as traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). Its origin dates back to the Neolithic Age (8000 - 5000 BC) in China. This has been practiced for thousands of years in many other Asian countries, in addition to China. Recently, it has started to flourish in Europe and the United States.
The idea behind acupuncture according to TCM, is to keep the flow of Qi (pronounced chee), which is considered the body's vital energy, undisturbed throughout the proposed 12 primary channels in the body. These channels are known to connect the 360 principle points that are within the body. This is because it is believed that the body should be in balance with the opposing, inseparable forces: yin (passive principle) and yang (active principle). Therefore, if there is an imbalance between the flow of Qi, the idea is to stimulate one of the principle points associated with the blockage to unblock the channel, restoring balance. According to the NHIS, between 2002 and 2007, it is estimated that 4.1 million U.S. adults had used acupuncture.
Fortunately, there have only been a few complications associated with the use of acupuncture that have actually been reported to the FDA. The biggest concern comes from inadequate sterilization of needles and from improper delivery of the treatment. The safety precautions are making sure that a new set of disposable needles are used every time, as well as having a qualified, licensed practitioner. Certain complications include infections and punctured organs.
After reading this article, I was not anymore convinced about trying acupuncture because the efficacy of this procedure still remains to be controversial and biased. Although there have been some experiments whose results support the benefits of acupuncture, there seem to be more results that remained inconclusive. What are your thoughts regarding the efficacy of acupuncture and if someone has had acupuncture, do you believe it actually worked/helped?
I think there will be a long standing battle over the efficacy of acupuncture. It is extremely difficult to pull out any patient bias from scientific studies... After all, how do you deliver a acupuncture placebo? As the patient, you either definitively know that you received the treatment or not.
ReplyDeleteFurthermore, an issue with acupuncture is that the questioned effects are immeasurable. A physiologist would look to measure biological markers but how do you quantify Qi? This practice also does not lend itself to an animal model... How do we figure out how balanced a mouse feels? You could measure pain (how I'm not sure) but acupuncture ia often used for chronic, low levels of persistent pain, which makes an animal model practically useless.
In conclusion, scientists will continue to be skeptical while acupuncture enthusiasts will remain so...
I think there will be a long standing battle over the efficacy of acupuncture. It is extremely difficult to pull out any patient bias from scientific studies... After all, how do you deliver a acupuncture placebo? As the patient, you either definitively know that you received the treatment or not.
ReplyDeleteFurthermore, an issue with acupuncture is that the questioned effects are immeasurable. A physiologist would look to measure biological markers but how do you quantify Qi? This practice also does not lend itself to an animal model... How do we figure out how balanced a mouse feels? You could measure pain (how I'm not sure) but acupuncture ia often used for chronic, low levels of persistent pain, which makes an animal model practically useless.
In conclusion, scientists will continue to be skeptical while acupuncture enthusiasts will remain so...
There has been quite a lot of interesting research about acupuncture and the placebo effect. If you can access it, a paper by Ted J Kaptchuk in British Medical Journal in 2008 is informative. In subjects with irritable bowel syndrome, they compared no treatment with "minimal placebo treatment" (placebo acupuncture, where the needles didn't penetrate the skin by the subjects thought they did) to "augmented placebo treatment" where there was the same needle business, but lots of warm interaction with the practitioner. There was a significant increase in relief of symptoms with minimal over control, and with augmented over minimal. A sweet study, and good discussion of the issues.
ReplyDeletePersonally I would still like to learn more about acupuncture. Even though it and the placebo effect aren't fully understood I think it is an area of research that should be continued because I think there is some promise in it. As for safety issues i'm sure clean needles are used but I would still be cautious where you get it done if you choose to.
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