acupuncture

I just heard a coworker talking about acupunture with someone else, and it occured to me for the first time that we are talking about sticking needles in the axons of neurons. Is this safe? I can't think of any reason I would want a metal object inserted into the axon of one of my neurons...

Our health insurance is up for renewal and I noticed Acupuncture, had been added in to the more expensive options and Chiropractic, which was already on the high end plans, was now covered by the lowest cost plan. Acupuncture--10% (Up to $50/visi 50% (up to $25/visit) Chiropractic $10 co-pay...

At present, there is no statutory regulation of practitioners who offer acupuncture, herbal medicine and traditional Chinese medicine in the UK. This Department of Health (DoH) consultation will seek views on whether a UK-wide regulatory system should be established to govern the practice of...

I know that this topic has been covered before, but the Australian Government is spending money trialling acupuncture in emergency wards: http://www.theage.com.au/national/acupuncture-trial-will-get-straight-to-the-point-20090625-cy8r.html As far as I can tell, acupuncture relies on tapping...

This BBC item is an exercise in how to mislead with a headline. As Simon Singh would say, there is not a jot of evidence from this review that acupuncture does anything over and above a placebo. Frankly I have given up complaining to the BBC about such grossly misleading reporting, as they have...

Ah the holidays... Family contraversies galore. But at least mine are ostensibly open-minded. A couple of my family members have shown an interest in at least considering the facts I share with them. Unfortunately, they're firm believers in everything that goes against the "status quo"...

Chiropractor that practices acupuncture. :(:boxedin::covereyes It's true. I looked it up, after hearing it from Bob Parks. http://pm.gc.ca/eng/bio.asp?id=71 And from WHAT’S NEW Robert L. Park Friday, 21 Nov 08 Washington, DC:

Placebo Acupuncture Tied to Higher IVF Pregnancies I think what this really tells us is, are we using the right cutoff for the measure of statistically significant endpoints? That would explain a lot of supposedly positive relationships between nonsensical treatments and outcomes that studies...

...and it looks like a win for the woos. First line treatments are to include spinal manipulation and acupuncture:

See http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080922/hl_nm/acupuncture_cancer_dc

Oh no (thanks to David Colquhoun for pointing this out). My Alma Mater (Edinburgh University) is promoting veterinary acupuncture. :mad::mad::mad:

It seems that many people (in the UK at least) have been paying hundreds of pounds for useless IVF treatment: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7495837.stm This must be a heartless scam on the level of Sylvia Browne; nonetheless we get: Surely 'Mr' Robin should be suspected of fraud.

http://dallas.craigslist.org/forums/?ID=94708817 That poor dog :mad:

Excellent article by Dominic Lawson. OK, I admit it, 'twas I who got the letter from Lord Hunt. But I wasn't complaining about psychic treatment on myself, I was asking about regulation. The Lord Hunt quote is such a gem that it's a prominent story in our new book `Healing, Hype or Harm?'. Lots...

Apparently they are: Peppermint and catnip Medical grade honey Glucosamine supplements Acupuncture Diet Saw palmetto Exercise Cranberry extract, d-mannose Pain control Slippery elm http://www.sfgate.com:80/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2008/06/10/petscol.DTL&type=news But apart from diet...

Article in Science Daily "'Ringing In The Ears' May Be Caused By Overactive Nerves; Acupuncture May Help, Study Suggests": This makes some sense since the ears clearly evolved from fish gills and this connection between touch and hearing is most likely a manifestation of the mess of a nervous...

So the very nice lady who lives down the next block and who regularly walks her greyhound by our house drives by today; it's the first time our paths have crossed in a couple of months. She adopted Jessie several years ago as a rescue dog. Jessie used to be very high-strung and easily spooked...

There's no suggestion that "qi" is resposible for benefits from acupuncture, but a study by an Italian specialist seems to have produced some interesting results: Details here. The doctor involved seems to be a recognised specialist in pain therapy, so it looks like it will be a...

Courtesy of Orac's awareness, we read of an article that showed sham acupuncture (delivered at "official" acupoints) worked better than true acupuncture needling. Unfortunately they did not look at needling and sham needling at non-acupoints - that would have been interesting, but other...

I guess this is one of those areas that I thought I knew something about and it turns out I don't. Many years ago I used to work in a Mental Hospital and accupuncture was being used. My impression was that it helped ease pain but now it turns out that its just so much woo. How can you fool...

I posted a topic a while back about some medical bunk being printed in a local news magazine that prompted me to write in and complain. An acupuncture instructor at a local college sent me an email after the whole debacle, addressed not only to me but to others, including the newspaper in...

A free, weekly Edmonton newspaper titled VUE Weekly recently published this article: http://vueweekly.com/articles/default.aspx?i=7522 The magazine is something I read every week, and while far from my favorite thing to read, it is, for the most part, not bad. The article above, however...

My company is having an employee health fair in a couple weeks and, due to some unrelated frustrations at work, I feel like making trouble. The bullet points on the flier include 1) acupuncture demonstrations 2)naturopathic medicine and 3) chiropractic along with blood pressure screening, dental...

So it seems. Of course, the acupuncture council say: Er....., shouldn't that read: "the fertility specialists have good results"?

I opened up my latest issue of Dowfriends a publication directed at retired Dow employees. Aetna is the major source for their insurance directives and right there in black and white "Be sure to ask your family psysican about alternative methods of medicine. Does anyone have a handle on this ...

Found this online. Are there any opinions on whether or not this article is valid? I especially like the quote when talking about St. Johns wort that says "It's worth a try...". When the article talks about lots of evidence both for and against I think that you could find point/counterpoints...

Have just watched an old episode of Braniac, which, for non UK readers is a very silly science programme containing of funny, almost scientific, experiments, which generally end up in an explosion. Good fun though and the theory, in my layman's opinion, is normally fairly sound. A nice little...

This study, in the current issue of the Medical Journal of Australia, is getting some media attention at the moment; Acupuncture for persistent allergic rhinitis: a randomised, sham-controlled trial It concludes The only major flaw I see in the methodology is the single-blinded nature of...

LOL! A friend of mine whom I hadn't seen in quite a while told me she'd been having some problems with her wrist, and had undergone acupuncture sessions to relieve the pain and stiffness. (paid for by medical insurance, of course!) Naturally, I told her that acupuncture is woo. She went to...

I happened to watch some of the Oprah Winfrey show today (please don't ask). She had as a guest Dr. Oz, a legitemate MD to answer qustions about the human body. Dr. Oz brought up the subject of acupunture and acupressure and stated these are scientific pratices. He explained how the body...