Acupuncture

Is acupuncture effective at treating pain or disorders? I'll give the scientific answer to that question, and explain why I don't recommend acupuncture for any condition.

A few notes, and some references:
1. Toothpick acupuncture does NOT involve inserting the toothpick in the skin. It was merely placed against the skin in a needle guide-tube to give a sharp sensation, then removed.

2. In the USA, acupuncturists are required to meet sterile standards, use one-use-only needles or autoclaved (sterilized) needles, and must be licensed to practice.

3. I'm not really addressing the acupressure and non-insertive traditions of some Japanese acupuncture forms. Certainly these are similar to non-insertive sham treatments, but it should be noted that the placement of fingers or toothpicks is not important for the effect.



References:
1. BMJ 2009;338:a3115
Acupuncture treatment for pain: systematic review of randomised clinical trials with acupuncture, placebo acupuncture, and no acupuncture groups

2. Arch Intern Med. 2009;169(9):858-866
A Randomized Trial Comparing Acupuncture, Simulated Acupuncture, and Usual Care for Chronic Low Back Pain

3. Clin Med 2006;6:381--6
Systematic review of systematic reviews of acupuncture published 1996--2005

4. Lancet. 1995 Jun 17;345(8964):1576.
Adverse effects of acupuncture.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• acupuncture
• science
• medicine
• healing
• sham
• toothpicks
• clinical
• trial
• systematic
• review
• evidence
• adverse
• events
• needles
• infection
• c0nc0rdance

[RELIGIONmustDIE]

I read an article that claims "Acupuncture significantly reduces levels of a protein in rats linked to chronic stress, researchers at Georgetown University Medical Center (GUMC) have found."

There was also some other study regarding inflammation where they used gene knockout mice and normal mice to compare acupuncture response. The gene knockout mice showed no benefit from acupuncture. So 1 mechanism of acupuncture has been isolated down to the genetic level. I'm not really into needles though.

[C0nc0rdance]

@RELIGIONmustDIE

The article you are referring to used electo-acupuncture (EA) and temperature stress in rats. That involves running electrical charge into the skin, which stimulates a lot of responses that have nothing to do with the presence of the needle.

I couldn't locate the second article with the information given.

[RELIGIONmustDIE]

@C0nc0rdance Sorry, My mistake. The second article is on physorg with the title: "Acupuncture's molecular effects pinned down"

[C0nc0rdance]

@RELIGIONmustDIE

Whenever you can, try to track down the primary source. Sometimes popular articles badly misrepresent the research. For example, this is a laughable statement from the physorg article:

"In special "adenosine receptor knock-out mice" not equipped with the adenosine receptor, acupuncture had no effect."

and

"When adenosine was turned on in the tissues, discomfort was reduced even without acupuncture."

How is adenosine turned on? That's a nonsense phrase.

[C0nc0rdance]

Physorg didn't cite the actual paper:

Nat Neurosci. 2010 Jul;13(7):883-8.

"Adenosine A1 receptors mediate local anti-nociceptive effects of acupuncture."

What I take from this article is that if the anti-nociception is a localized phenomenon that interacts with AdA1R, then it doesn't matter if needles are placed on "mystical points" or not. In fact, they speculate that any physical stimulation has a similar effect.  Studies on chiro and massage are cited for support.

[C0nc0rdance]

They also point out that most studies find an analgesic effect whether needles are inserted or not, suggesting that the pressure on skin cells is enough to replicate the effect. To quote them:

"...it is possible that ATP release from keratinocytes in response to mechanical stimulation of the skin results in an accumulation of adenosine that transiently reduces pain, as A1 receptors are probably expressed by nociceptive axon terminal in epidermis"

[C0nc0rdance]

@Akzimo

Of course it works. It works about as well as a placebo (probably because it is one). The human mind can be fooled, and that is a special kind of medicine.

However, it's not an effective substitute for evidence based therapies, and it is more expensive and intrusive than some alternative placebos.

[C0nc0rdance]

@Akzimo

This is a dangerous kind of thinking. If you can believe something because the evidence supports it, but also believe something because "false evidence" is being put out by a conspiracy of science... then you'll always believe it. It's a self-deluding process.

Is there some specific scientific evidence that you WOULD accept that acupuncture works primarily by a psychological mechanism? Such as not inserting the needles, inserting them wrong?

[Skullcracken]

@JZJYRWO You should reflect on all the factors that you underwent in your treatment for the pinched nerve. Did you absolutely only get acupuncture. Was there any massage or relaxation techniques with the treatment. Who diagnosed you with a pinched nerve. It is not physiologically possible to correct a pinched nerve with only acupuncture. The condition may have already been in the process of resolving, if that was even a proper diagnosis.

[thenoeggplantzone]

Again, your videos are so important.

You are teaching people how to think properly,

Thank You so much for your work.

[q41n]

Cemophopy has a 2% success rate

[RELIGIONmustDIE]

@C0nc0rdance in a study how would you give each animal the same level of treatment if it involved too much of a human factor since a different amount of pressure etc would change the result. It would be interesting if another study followed that up without using electrical stimulus. I don't think the voltages involved would do much more than tighten muscles around the treatment area.

[RELIGIONmustDIE]

@C0nc0rdance the second article should be found using the following search string "Acupuncture significantly reduces levels of a protein in rats linked to chronic stress"

You are right though. That study used electro-acupuncture. I'm not yet convinced that using electricity rules out acupuncture since the electrical stimulus was used to more accurately control the treatment dose. Electrical stimulation would tighten the muscles around the needle and would be equivalent to turning the needle.

[JZJYRWO]

@Psy0psAgent The video displays the attitude of most professionals in our profit driven medical establishment. I had a recurring pinched nerve in my back. When I was 25 years old, decided to try acupuncture and it worked. The pinched nerve never came back after just one treatment. I also was infected with Hepatitis C and got homeopathic treatment from Joel Fuhrman, he was not famous when I was seeing him. I developed antibodies to the virus and I'm cured. Drugs are a terrible thing