Here’s a suggestion for anyone seeking a cure for back pain: get stuck. According to a new study, acupuncture not only relieves back pain, it works better than traditional Western treatments. The research, which took place over six months in Germany, involved randomly assigning 1100 back pain patients to three groups. One group received real acupuncture, another received standard Western remedies (pain killers, heat therapy, and massage), and the other received “sham” acupuncture (meaning the needles weren’t stuck in traditional acupuncture points).
As reported by the Associated Press, 47% of people in the real acupuncture group reported an improvement in their health. That’s compared to a mere 27% of people who experienced relief in the “Western treatment” group. But perhaps most intriguingly, the study also found that 44% of people in the *sham* acupuncture group said their back pain had diminished.
Researchers say the high relief score for fake acupuncture could mean any type of pin pricking improves health, or it could be the result of our old friend the placebo effect.
But it seems that whether you’re seeing a certified acupuncturist or a quack who’s sticking needles in willy-nilly, you still have nearly a fifty-fifty chance of feeling better. And either way, it’s a better bet than popping a pill.
Just tried acupuncture for joint pain. BAD idea! The needles didn’t hurt that much, but the vibrating machine the doctor used on them did. Incredibly painful. And it did nothing for my original pain. $85 down the drain…I’d rather pop a pill.
I always find it bizarre, the way in which acupuncture and similar treatments are testing (and possibly proscribed, in future) in the West. In traditional Chinese medicine, acupuncture is given as part of a complete package for health (for *health*, not just for curing disease). A Chinese doctor will tell you that what they do in terms of actual treatment is only about 30% of the whole package; the rest is changes in lifestyle and attitude. Unfortunately, allopathic medicine is only interested in single, isolated treatments.
And to back up how effective acupuncture can be when properly used — my fiancé was told by her consultant that she’d be on maximum dose steroids for the rest of her (not very long) life, and still have trouble breathing properly. After being treated by a doctor trained in both western and traditional Chinese medicine, she can now breath normally without drugs of any kind.
Just a little cheerleading for acupuncture: I have a spinal fusion, meaning my spine is a single bone from C3 down with metal rod implants. I had the surgery when I was 12, 20+ years ago. Growing up I took a bevy of pain meds and had regular physical therapy, which worked marginally well. In my early 20’s I added in yoga and herbs and stopped taking any medications. That worked alright, but my chronic pain still kept me immobile from time to time. For the last 10 years I have had weekly to bi weekly acupuncture and now my chronic pain is at a manageable level, from none at all to annoying but not dire.
I Heart Fashion: I’m sorry you had a bad experience! I have only been hooked up to a “machine” with my needles a few times, and this was for electricity. Painful but it works to break up deep seated stagnation (or at least for me). Also I found that unlike allopathic medicine where you take a pill and it tells your body what to do, regardless of the lasting effects or with respect to eliminating the actual cause, you have to commit to holistic medicine. Not that there isn’t a time and place for Western Medicine (thank you life saving spinal surgery, for example!). I tend to think, how long did it take for the pain/problem to accumulate? It is understandable that it would take some time (more than one or two appointments) for it to be remedied.
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