Recently, I had a lengthy (and slightly drunk) debate with a friend regarding the efficacy of acupuncture. We took opposing views, he argued that because it has been practiced for thousands of years, it must work - I was skeptical, demanding proof.
Part of the reason this debate started was we were talking about alternative therapies and I scoffed that acupuncture had little more than a placebo effect - citing a study I had read recently.
We bandied back and forth before he offered to give me real, documented proof that acupuncture worked. Evidence he claimed he had seen with his own eyes. I told him to go on...
His case was the relative of an ex-girlfriend. The man in question was (if I recall correctly) a sports coach who, in the course of his work, had damaged his knee - the cartilage had been worn away through overuse after a traumatic injury. Conventional medicine had failed him, my friends asserted, and he was left unable to walk without assistance and constant pain.
According to my friend, this relative then embarked upon a course of acupuncture to alleviate the pain and treat the injury. The treatment was to last more than six months. My friend claims to have seen a scan of the damaged knee, showing the damage and the lack of cartilage. He also claims that during the treatment, no other form of therapy (
During the course of the acupuncture treatment period, the gent in question went for regular scans to gauge the efficacy of the treatment, and 'lo and behold' the cartilage was growing back. According to the tale I was told - acupuncture had regrown this man's cartilage and repaired his traumatically damaged knee. Now the regrowth was by no means complete, and the guy was still in some discomfort, but the treatment had apparently worked.
I was still skeptical, but my friend assured me that this has happened and he had seen the proof. He couldn't provide the proof to me, as he was no longer in contact with the ex, but asked me to accept his word that it was true.
Whilst I don't doubt the guy experienced some recovery, and I cannot prove that acupuncture had nothing to do with it - I also cannot guarantee that the guy tried absolutely nothing else during this six months to alleviate his pain and suffering - I find it hard to believe that a professional sports coach would have not tried other, more conventional, treatments alongside the acupuncture.
In any event, the fact that the guy's suffering was alleviated somewhat is great for him - but I still strongly doubted that acupuncture was solely responsible for the recovery. My friend disagreed and the debate continued.
At this point, I decided to offer a counter story - one I could back up - not with evidence, but the lack of it. I could also produce the person I was using as a case study - my wife.
As long as I have known my wife, she has had issues with her back and shoulder. Part of this comes from being a well-endowed woman (she has big boobs) - part from a previously undiagnosed muscule problem. But I get ahead of myself.
My wife is happy to use modern medicine, but is also open to alternative therapies, like acupuncture. When we met, she had periodic back pain issues, and used to get massages to relieve the discomfort. I believe the pain was not severe, and the episodes fairly distantly spaced - such that the massages worked sufficiently to alleviate the problem.
We all get older - and a product of that aging process is our bodies work slightly less well each year. After we moved to Singapore, my wife decided to try TCM (traditional chinese medicine) to help deal with the increasing bouts of back pain - increasing in both severity and regularity. She had regular massages and acupuncture. This went on for a couple of years, with the back (and later shoulder) pain becoming more severe and frequent.
A few years ago, we started seeing a personal trainer to help us get in better shape. He was a local guy and agreed with my wife's decision to use TCM - but he also showed her some exercise techniques to help alleviate the increasing shoulder pain she was experiencing.
By this time, the TCM treatments were much more frequent - as were the massages.
In my mind - all this treatment was not working - if it were - she should be getting better, right?
Eventually, I got cross with her - I explained that she needed to see a medical professional - a sports medicine practitioner or a physiotherapist - this almost constant massage and TCM could not continue!
She relented and agreed to see a physio.
A single meeting changed her life! She saw a sports physiotherapist from a local and well-respected practice. He examined her and put her through a battery of movement tests. As well as having big boobs - which puts a strain on a woman's back, he concluded that she has a slightly underdeveloped muscle in her shoulder. This, combined with poor posture sitting hunched over a desk all day in her office, had combined to produce the constant pain and the almost constant need for relief.
He gave her a sports massage; he also prescribed her some exercises that would help re-develop the muscles in her shoulder to stop her neck and back from compensating (which was causing some of the pain), and helped her correct her posture - that was it!
After that single meeting, she didn't need any further therapeutic relief for almost a year! Even then, it was a single meeting with the physio to refine the exercises and another massage. Her need for intervention (from anyone, conventional or alternative medicine) had dropped from monthly (or worse) to annual.
In my mind, this showed that in this case - TCM, and more specifically, acupuncture, was clearly not working - even though my wife believed it could - not even a placebo effect here.
My friend remains convinced it works - and I remain skeptical. The more reading I have done, the more I believe that whilst it can be a useful adjunct to western medicine for some people (the more credulous, I think) - I cannot agree that it's a truly effective alternative to the scientifically proven methods employed by modern medical practitioners.
I encourage you to read further - don't just accept my story. There's a lot of good information out there, but try to avoid the sites that are pushing an agenda. Look for scientific research.
Even the guy who wrote the first English language textbook on acupuncture, Felix Mann, has stated that "The Traditional acupuncture points are no more real than the black spots a drunkard sees before his eyes" and "The meridians of acupuncture are no more real than the meridians of geography" - this from the guy who wrote the book!
Finally Quackwatch states that "TCM theory and practice are not based upon the body of knowledge related to health, disease, and health care that has been widely accepted by the scientific community. TCM practitioners disagree among themselves about how to diagnose patients and which treatments should go with which diagnoses. Even if they could agree, the TCM theories are so nebulous that no amount of scientific study will enable TCM to offer rational care."
In any event, stay healthy, and thanks for reading.
