Does Acupuncture Really Work?

Everywhere you turn, it seems there's someone offering a miracle cure or magic potion to relieve all your medical problems. With a ton of options to turn to it can be hard to decide what's best for you, and more importantly, what works at all. Besides Western medicine, there's homeopathy, naturopathy, chiropractic, Ayurvedic medicine, reflexology, massage therapy, biofeedback and hypnotherapy to name just a few. Each one has their own claims to healing and a better way of life. But what about acupuncture? Is there really anything to it or is it just another scam? Is it something you have to believe in to make it work for you or is there a true benefit to this ancient practice? The answers to these questions is that acupuncture does work and there's scientific proof that shows it works. While some of the mechanism of this system of healing are still unknown, it doesn't matter whether you believe in it or not. The bottom line it that it works! rnDocumented for over 3000 years, and believed to be up to 5000 years old, acupuncture and traditional Oriental medicine is the primary form of health care for around a third of the people on the planet. Relatively new to Americans, acupuncture didn't gain much attention until a journalist named James Reston, of the New york Post, visited China. It was 1972 and Reston was in China covering Henry Kissinger and the negotiations to open Chinese and American relationships. While he was there, Reston developed appendicitis and wound up in the hospital to have his appendix removed. After the surgery he complained of pain and instead of being given drugs to numb the pain, he received acupuncture. Amazed by the success of this treatment, he came back to America and instead of writing about politics, he wrote about his wonderful experience with acupuncture. Since then, acupuncture has become more and more accepted here in the America and people are continually drawn to it as an alternative to Western medications. One of the hardest things in medical research is to evaluate a patients level of pain relief. Everyone has different thresholds and perceptions of pain. Then there's the placebo effect. The mind is a very powerful tool and the placebo effect can be extremely strong in many people. That being said, it's still safe to say that you don't have to believe in acupuncture for it to work. It will most likely have a better effect if you go into the treatments with a positive outlook than a negative one. Just as the mind can help to create positive results, it can also assist in rendering negative results. The best evidence in debunking any theories that acupuncture is purely a placebo effect is the fact acupuncture works on animals. While skeptics will argue there are no positive studies showing animal acupuncture to be effective, it's going to be hard to get a large group of dogs together, with the same condition, to go through the same series of treatments. What you will find is a plethora of animal lovers that have taken their pet in for acupuncture treatments and seen the animal make incredible improvements in a single treatment. For the people that hate the argument of acupuncture working on animals, there is plenty of studies composed by universities, organizations and government agencies. Many studies have shown acupuncture to be effective in pain management. This is of great importance to those suffering from chronic pain who don't want to be dependent on medications and their side effects (Vioxx has been linked to myocardial infarction and NSAID's can cause gastrointestinal bleeding). Further studies can be found for acupuncture being effective for insomnia, asthma, anxiety, digestive disorders, infertility and many different women's health issues, including endometriosis, interstitial cystitis and Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS). The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine and the World Health Organization claim acupuncture to be an effective treatment for over 50 different health conditions, chronic and acute. rnEven with all that said, there are people that still argue that acupuncture isn't an evidence based medicine. While there is evidence supporting the benefits of acupuncture, the research is minimal when compared to Western medicine. Compared to Western medicine it's not really a level playing field either. The National Institute of Health (NIH) has a budget of $24 billion, with only $100 million allocated to the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM), which is under the NIH. With the huge budget of the NIH, it's still estimated that only 20-25% of Western medicine is evidence based. Approximately one third of the population of the planet uses Chinese medicine as a primary form of health care. It's used as much as it is because it's safe and effective. The bottom line is that acupuncture and Chinese medicine work.