patrick.net

The finding was that when the body thinks the skin is being damaged, it produces chemicals to repair the damage. This is not a surprise.

What these anti-inflammatory chemicals do for "Fatigue", or Lymphoma, or Herpes is almost certainly nothing or close to it.

The simplest check is lifespan. Did people live for 70+ years when Acupuncture and Herbal Remedies were the common form of treatment? Or is this possible now because of public sanitation, better diet, and "Modern, Western" surgery and drugs?

no one is claiming that acupuncture can treat everything. but it works for certain things and now there is evidence for that.

western medicine is all about depending on pills so pharmaceutical companies can make money. why would anyone want to take pain pills and damage their liver when acupuncture works just as well?

This finding did not say "It works for certain things". It simply identified that certain anti-inflammatory chemicals are produced when the skin is poked.

A study comparing topical ointments to acupuncture for the treatment of lacerations might work.

BTW, acupuncturists work for free?

you need to do some research:

"Acupuncture's use for certain conditions has been endorsed by the United States National Institutes of Health, the National Health Service of the United Kingdom, the World Health Organization,[1][19] and the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acupuncture

did i say it was free or did i say it was less damaging to the liver?

I am all for alternative medicine.

It would be misguided to allow the establishment to control an epistemic monopoly in medicine.

troll posts and insults (from roberto, lol not surprised) have been deleted.

Wikipedia is not research. And that's not a troll comment. Hint: Disagreement is not trolling.

thunderlips11 says

Wikipedia is not research. And that's not a troll comment. Hint: Disagreement is not trolling.

you dismissed what wikipedia has to say and provided some conspiracy without one single shred of evidence to back up your claims. that is trolling and won't be tolerated here.

"A new study published this week in the Archives of Internal Medicine appears to at least somewhat vindicate the acupuncture believers.

After re-analyzing data from 29 high-quality clinical trials dating back to the 1990s, researchers have concluded that the pain relief derived from acupuncture is partly real, in that it can't be ascribed entirely to the placebo effect."
http://www.cnn.com/2012/09/11/health/health-acupuncture/index.html

Zlxr, your onto something. The healing power of touch vs. chemicals. In most cases, we know which is more powerful, we are just a hands off kind of up selling society.

After having spent 1 month in a lab that studies acupuncture for its effects on heart rate, blood pressure and pain, I have found that the results of these studies are mixed. I will not say they are placebo but I also would not say that dramatically efficacious.

Fortunately acupuncture is without much risk and therefore worth trying for most.