Your linked study is the one I was referring to. Look closer at the methods - they included both studies with sham and without sham groups in their meta-analysis. That's a poor plan, as it results in heterogeneity of studies, which doesn't exactly invalidate the results, but makes them of questionable quality. Additionally, none of the studies they looked at were double-blinded, which makes them of questionable use for drawing conclusions. Throw in publication bias (positive results are far more likely to be published), and this study looks really thin.
I have a B.S. in Molecular Genetics, a Ph.D. in Microbiology and Immunology, and a bit over two years of postdoctoral research in vaccine, and host-pathogen research. None of that makes me a medical expert at all, but I do know my way around research papers.
Unfortunately I don't have access to that text, so I can't comment on it. If somebody else who can analyse the methods involved in obtaining the data can comment on it I would be willing to reconsider my stance.
---------- Post added 2013-01-26 at 01:46 PM ----------
Why are you resorting to ad hominens? I'm just saying that anecdotal experience doesn't prove anything. This isn't an attack on you.
Except it's a meta-analysis performed and funded by CAM/alt-med people. Guess what?
More here.The Vickers acupuncture meta-analysis, despite the authors’ claims, does not reveal anything new about the acupuncture literature, and does not provide support for use of acupuncture as a legitimate medical intervention. The data show that there is a large difference in outcome when an unblinded comparison is made between treatment and no treatment – an unsurprising result that is of no clinical relevance and says nothing about acupuncture itself.
The comparison between true acupuncture and sham acupuncture shows only a small difference, which is likely not clinically significant or perceptible. More importantly, this small difference is well within the degree of bias and noise that are inherent to clinical trials. Researcher bias, publication bias, outlying effects, and researcher degrees of freedom are more than enough to explain such a small difference. In other words – this data is insufficient to reject the null hypothesis, even if we don’t consider the high implausibility of acupuncture.
Further, meta-analysis itself is an imperfect tool that often does not predict the results of large, rigorous, definitive clinical trials. The best acupuncture trials, those that are well-blinded and include placebo acupuncture, show no specific effects.
The title of the thread is "Have you tried acupuncture?". Not " Have you read a study or internet article about acupuncture?" . Why are you even posting in the thread? What made you come in here to back Spectral up? Just a coincidence you thnk? I am laughing at the both of you looking for links to post trying desperatley to prove you are right. There is no right or wrong here, the OP asked if you tried it...well did you? Have you ever tried it Spectral? If so let's hear about that, if not then gtfo out of this thread and stop trying to boost your post counts.
BUNK, it's up there with homeopathic medicine and voodoo. BUNK I SAY!
Why don't the two of you go make a new thread title "Why I don't think Acupuncture works" or something like that. You can hold each others hands there.
Infracted.
Last edited by mmoc58a2a4b64e; 2013-01-27 at 08:08 PM.
I'm not sure there are double-blind studies of acupuncture, it's just hell difficult to design and conduct. The paper does, however, show that there is a large amount of studies that support the effectiveness of acupuncture, even though individually those studies aren't 100% conclusive.
Here's another review that agrees: http://images.dieutridau.com/thongti...re-does-it.pdf
It's also a review of cases and therefore is inconclusive, but it is some evidence nonetheless.
The night is dark and full of terrors...
It doesn't sound terribly difficult, really. Give one medical practitioner the "correct" instructions for acupuncture and the other "incorrect" instructions.
Well, no, I don't agree with that assertion for the reasons I've already mentioned. Having a large number of poorly done studies isn't just not 100% conclusive, it's not really useful information at all. It's not like doing something half-right twice is the equivalent of doing it right once.
I don't mean to be rude, but did you read the linked review? From the abstract:
The conclusion:Numerous contradictions and caveats emerged. Unanimously
positive conclusions from more than one high-quality systematic review existed only for neck pain.
Ninety-five cases of severe adverse effects including 5 fatalities were included. Pneumothorax and infections were the most frequently reported adverse effects. In conclusion, numerous systematic reviews
have generated little truly convincing evidence that acupuncture is effective in reducing pain. Serious
adverse effects continue to be reported.
Basically, there's almost no good studies that show positive efficacy for acupuncture, despite massive reporting bias. Additionally, there's significant adverse events.In many of the case reports, causality was uncertain
(Tables 2–4), not least because of a lack of sufficient detail. Yet,
most of the authors seemed confident about causality. In future,
authors and editors should ensure that the quality of case reports
increases.
In conclusion, many systematic reviews of acupuncture for pain
management are available. Yet they only support few indications,
and contradictions abound. Acupuncture remains associated with
serious adverse effects.
---------- Post added 2013-01-26 at 03:08 PM ----------
I have not, for a simple reason - it doesn't have any positive effects and has some negative effects.
You seem to think if someone asks, "has anyone tried _____" that they wouldn't desire any evidence about whether it works or not.
it lowered the strength of my grandmothers migraine after she tried it. never tried myself :3
Harriet Hall's commentary should help clarify the paper's conclusions: not that it's "some evidence" as you said, but that it was found to be no better than a placebo and carries its own harmful risks.
Originally Posted by Hall
here's some studies on acupressure, which is like acupuncture but without needles:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/15207999/
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed...207999/related
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed...128040/related
might consider that as an alternative.
That's not exactly what I'm saying. My point is that when it comes to medicine, if there is a bunch of studies that inconclusively prove something, I won't discount it completely at least until I see a study that conclusively disproves it. It will remain a "maybe, even though unlikely". All that means is for a lack of other options, I would be willing to try it.
Another point that I want to make is that people who are arguing against something often (and often rightfully) accuse the other side of bias, but seem to forget that they are also strongly biased to the other side. A person who is passionately arguing against some procedure can make the same mistakes trying to disprove it, as the passionate person on the opposite side trying to prove it. This is one reason I rarely argue with self-proclaimed "skeptics".
The night is dark and full of terrors...
studies have shown that acupuncture actually does work, it stimulates nerves among other things.
however the studies also showed that the benefit was the same if the needles were placed by a "master" or completely at random.
so while it works, you could have a chimp do it and get the same results as a old asian guy.
Originally Posted by tkjnz
Bother my parents are doctors (50 years of practice combined) and my mother can do a little acupuncture. She has successfully treated/lessened my dad's hip pain, he was of course sure it would do nothing, but it proved to be very effective in his case. But as with all treatments, medical or otherwise, the results will vary, based on:
-Genetics
-The severity of the condition
-Confounders
-Age
-Tons of other things
In any case, don't rule out acupuncture, just because it has been called "pseudoscience" or an alternative treatment, it could improve your quality of life.
I would at least try it, if I had exhausted the standard medical procedures or if I was looking at liver/kidney damage from prolonged use or highdoses of painkillers.
Oh by the way, bloodletting is still used, for a few very rare blooddiseases, but they didn't know about these, back when it was "the wonder treatment".
The first article I provided is written by Steven Novella, the other by David Gorski. If you're not familiar with these guys perhaps it's time to take a closer look. They know a bit about medicine as well as critical thinking.