acupuncture! is there any scientific studies if not for proof then knowledge , how does it work ,?

Question

what is it actually doing physically , biologically?

Answer 1

Most of this "homeopathic" medicine kinds of stuff is based on experience, not science. Thousands of years ago some person might have found that poking people with needles made them feel better sometimes maybe. Then they made up a bunch of crap to try to explain why, like the wood in the liver is blocking your energy flow and there is a dark chi clouding your kidney water. But don't let them fool you. It's really mostly made up, kind of like religion. Anyway, as far as scientific studies go, the general agreement is that the effect is no greater than placebo. But don't get me wrong -- experience IS valuable, and placebo effect IS quite significant (just not worth any significant sum of money).

Answer 2

No, there are no studies showing acupuncture works better then any other placebo effect. The original reason suggested for its working is based on undetectable fields and flows in the body.
The "modernized" explanation is provoked production of natural painkillers in the body.
If it works at all it is by distraction and power of suggestion. Like many of these alternative treatments they work just fine if nothing is really wrong with you.
One more thing. When acupuncture broke into the western world (mostly through the reporting of a N.Y. Times writer, J. Reston why had his appendix removed in China in the 60's) acupuncture was only for pain relief and nobody made claims that it cured anything.

Answer 3

I'm a fan of evidence based medicine, which is why I'm fairly anti-homeopathy unless it's been investigated. However, acupuncture has empirical evidence that either alone or in conjunction with other pain relieving therepies it works. We don't know why. There are theories as to why it works, but there are absolutely studies from reputable academic institutions that support it's use in pain. Often the biggest problem is the size of the study group. The evidence, however, is so solid that we have an entire lecture on it in our thereputics course in med school (an MD school at that).

Do a simple search for "pub med" and "acupuncture" and you'll get a great array of abstracts to tell you about the empirical evidence that's out there.

Answer 4

Acupuncture ie puncture of skin with thin needles is supposed to secrete opioid derivatives in the body to relieve pain. Not of much use but widely advertised by quacks to make money.