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Does acupuncture work?

rjh01

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rjh01
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https://academic.oup.com/brain/arti...93/brain/awx015/3058778/Rewiring-the-primary-

Acupuncture therapy was provided for 16 sessions over 8 weeks. Boston Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Questionnaire assessed pain and paraesthesia symptoms at baseline, following therapy and at 3-month follow-up. Nerve conduction studies assessing median nerve sensory latency and brain imaging data were acquired at baseline and following therapy. Functional magnetic resonance imaging assessed somatotopy in the primary somatosensory cortex using vibrotactile stimulation over three digits (2, 3 and 5). While all three acupuncture interventions reduced symptom severity, verum (local and distal) acupuncture was superior to sham in producing improvements in neurophysiological outcomes, both local to the wrist (i.e. median sensory nerve conduction latency) and in the brain (i.e. digit 2/3 cortical separation distance).
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I know some of you people can tear apart a good research paper better than me. So please prove the previous statement correct by do so on this article.

The only issues I can come up with are
1. It was a small study. Could have had the result by chance.
2. Did the people giving the treatment know which group the subjects were in? If so this could influence the result.
3. Sham acupuncture did improve the condition.


None of these prove the study is no good. But can you do better?

Edit. If you want to see a news report of the above then read this http://time.com/4690200/acupuncture-carpal-tunnel-syndrome/
 
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The "classic" sham acupuncture studies prove, as far as I am aware, that doing it wrong is just as good as doing it right.
 
rjh01 said:
I know some of you people can tear apart a good research paper better than me. So please prove the previous statement correct by do so on this article.
Click to expand...

It's honestly impossible to say without reading the paper itself. Since that costs £26, I'm not going to do so.
 
As with all mainstream or alternative medical practices, if you have faith in the process then it can be quite effective sometimes.
 
You need to define "acupuncture" first.

If it's stabbing needles in certain points, altering the flow of Chi to heal the body, the answer is "most likely no, and please stop wasting precious bandwidth".

If it's stabbing needles in certain points, hoping the healing scars will alleviate the pressure to the carpal nerve, the answer is "this study shows it might".

McHrozni
 
They used electro-acupuncture, which might actually do something. That is putting in two needles, and some small voltage hooked to them. Think electro-massage? or TENS machine?

Whatever, it was NOT traditional acupuncture. Rats. now somebody need to do a study comparing e-a to other treatments.
 
casebro said:
They used electro-acupuncture, which might actually do something. That is putting in two needles, and some small voltage hooked to them. Think electro-massage? or TENS machine?

Whatever, it was NOT traditional acupuncture. Rats. now somebody need to do a study comparing e-a to other treatments.
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Thanks. Interesting post.
 
I can only speak from personal experience, but it worked for me.

I used to have moderate to severe pain in my lower back from an injury I received in a rugby tackle when I was younger (about 30 years ago). As I got older, the pain got steadily worse, and made it difficult to do everyday things such a riding a bike or driving a car. Sometimes, even sitting at a computer was painful. I tried several sessions with physiotherapists, chiropractors and osteopaths, all to no avail. I used to take some pretty heavy painkillers (Percoset, Oxycontin) Then, on the physiotherapist's recommendation, I went to an acupuncturist.... She connected wires from a small machine to the needles which passed a small, pulsing electric current through my body (a weird but not unpleasant sensation). Three sessions later, no more pain and it hasn't returned in a few years.

This is not proof or definitive by any means, but my experience makes it difficult for me to conclude that it doesn't work...
 
Argumemnon said:
No, it does not.
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As said, it depends how you define "acupuncture".

The whole 'theory' behind it (fixed points, altering flow of chi, etc.) is junk -- it clashes with current scientific medical/biological theories on many levels.

Sticking needles into the skin randomly, and maybe hook them up to voltage, does seem to have about the same effect as if you follow the chi points.

The problem is that it is nigh impossible to compare sticking needles into someone with not sticking needles into someone.

There have been some studies which try to do exactly that (for instance, by effectively blinding the patients, either with blindfolds or [pretending to] use the needles where they cannot see it).

I don't have the time to search for such studies -- as far as I recall, they were some that concluded that the sham procedure worked just as well as actual putting needles in, meaning that it's probably a pure placebo effect. It's not the needles sticking, it's the treatment by the acupuncturist and the patient's belief in it that does the trick. Of course acupuncturists complain that the test procedures fail because they couldn't use proper techniques -- just the ones that minimize the feel of the needling to make the sham procedure work.

As I said: It's hard, next to impossible, to test.

Personally, currently I don't see it as something to be used on myself.
 
smartcooky said:
[snip] I went to an acupuncturist.... She connected wires from a small machine to the needles which passed a small, pulsing electric current through my body (a weird but not unpleasant sensation). [snip]
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I don't know what this procedure is called, but it's clearly not "classical" or "traditional" acupuncture, where neither of those words are intended to refer to chi, or music, or any such thing.
 
smartcooky said:
I can only speak from personal experience, but it worked for me...
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For your sake, I hope you continue to get relief and my heart goes out to you. Perhaps this works for you.

But if your name is not smartcooky, consider the possibility and science (i.e., lack of it) behind this claim: outrageous, extremely ridiculous and highly unlikely.
 
I recall reading somewhere that the "chi points" themselves, so confidently assumed, are imaginary and vary between any two nitwits with a needle.

Electricity, on the other volt, now that one I can see. Had it myself, though not a needle, just a wet pad. The rapid osculating of the muscle as the current varies is an intense workout in a short period.

These days I do a routine of stretches (taught me by my last physio) and they work well.
 
Sherman Bay said:
For your sake, I hope you continue to get relief and my heart goes out to you. Perhaps this works for you.

But if your name is not smartcooky, consider the possibility and science (i.e., lack of it) behind this claim: outrageous, extremely ridiculous and highly unlikely.
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And yet, an established medical treatment is to wear a small unit that gives you small electrical pulses through the affected area.

This signature is intended to irritate people.
 
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