Acupuncture Does Work Finds New Study
Jacksonville – A recent study reported in the Archives of Internal Medicine reports that acupuncture seems to do more for lower back pain than conventional medicine.
The study which looked at over six hundred patients showed that those who received even acupuncture type treatments without the use of needles fared better than patients who received standard medications and physical therapy. Patients were divided into four groups.
One group received traditional acupuncture treatment. A second group received individually prescribed regimes and a third group received acupuncture like treatment that utilized toothpicks in the needle tubes rather than the traditional needles. Even the group with treatments that did not pierce the skin experienced a greater benefit that those given standard medical therapy for back pain.
Similar studies have found that even touching or massaging the skin in pressure point regions use by acupuncturist can result in an increase in blood flow and hormonal changes that provide pain relief.
A course of eight weeks was required to achieve these results and some patients received benefits for up to one year following therapy.
While it is unclear exactly how acupuncture works it does appear that this is a valid therapy in the treatment of back pain.
Actually the study just shows that acupuncture relies on the placebo effect.
Here’s the relevant bit from the report, which is left out above:
“The acupuncture patients were also allowed to continue using pain relievers if they were already taking them.”
In other words, three of the four groups received what they thought to be a treatment (i.e. poking of some sort). The fourth group didn’t believe they were receiving any complementary care, and not surprisingly, their recovery rate was lower.
Don’t forget to check the fine print.