http://sciencebasedmedicine.org/acupuncture-doesnt-work/
Not work? But except for the parent and a lot of other people.
The $100B per year back pain industry is mostly a hoax
71–80 of 348 posts
Re: The $100B per year back pain industry is mostly a hoax
#72On the flip side, I had lower back pain of varying intensity for about two years before it got really bad really suddenly and I went to someone recommended by someone knowledgeable in the subject who fixed it in about 30 minutes of some serious stretching and twisting and turning [1]. Two months with not a hint of pain and I'm pretty sure this is yet another example of the medical industry being incentivized into ign…
I mean, given enough competition (which I accept isn't a given), someone will decide getting all of the profit from a cure is worth more than competing for a slice of the treatment market.
Re: The $100B per year back pain industry is mostly a hoax
#73Oh, but the subscriptions continue. They "cure a disease" with vaccines my friend...In fact they increase as vaccines are compulsively imposed on almost everybody...Note that the vaccine manufactures are immune from liability, so a vaccine is a perfect injection point for bioaccumulative toxins which create more future customers. > Indeed, and it is surely for the same reason that there isn't yet a pill I can take to…
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Re: The $100B per year back pain industry is mostly a hoax
#74I can personally vouch for the effectiveness of a morning routine of 15 minutes of exercise at home, targeting the pelvic muscles. The only equipment required is a floor mat, if the floor is hard. I started gently and naturally progressed to a higher level, taking the attitude that there is no hurry, because I'm going to be doing this for the rest of my life, so there is plenty of time to progress. My initial routine…
I've had back pain on and off over the years. Usually due to muscle cramping from poor posture. I had to make a conscious effort not to slouch at my desk. What I've found helps with back pain, sciatica, knee pain, are stretches, and free weights. Then again, I've been lifting for about 41 years, so its not a surprise to me that changing my regimen provides positive outcomes. Specifically, for me, dead lifts for lower…
I struggled for ages with trying to keep "good posture", trying to position each part of my body correctly (shoulders back, etc). Once the importance of core muscles was pointed out to me, I saw that all I need to do was "turn on" my pelvic muscles and the other bits of my body fell into place without thinking about them individually. As the strength of these muscles improved due to a regular exercise routine, I found that I didn't have to consciously "turn on" pelvic muscles and they were strong enough to keep things in position by themselves.
Re: The $100B per year back pain industry is mostly a hoax
#75Oh, but the subscriptions continue. They "cure a disease" with vaccines my friend...In fact they increase as vaccines are compulsively imposed on almost everybody...Note that the vaccine manufactures are immune from liability, so a vaccine is a perfect injection point for bioaccumulative toxins which create more future customers. > Indeed, and it is surely for the same reason that there isn't yet a pill I can take to…
(I can't delete my own comment, apparently)
Re: The $100B per year back pain industry is mostly a hoax
#76Earlier quoted context omitted.
>>Acupuncture should, ideally, be tested separately for effectiveness for each individual condition for which it has been proposed (like so many other forms of alternative medicine, that is a very large number). Good quality trials have not been done for all of them, but results suggest strongly that it is unlikely that acupuncture works for rheumatoid arthritis, stopping smoking, irritable bowel syndrome, or for los…
First, you're taking a god-of-the-gaps approach to acupuncture. "It hasn't been proven to be ineffective for condition X, so keep your mind open!" Second, they have run good trials on many of the conditions acupuncture claims to cure. You picked the one paragraph that might be interpreted to support your claim: > It's a shame that Western science seems so intent on dismissing non-western treatments and techniques, ra…
> And bitch all you want about "western medicine", but if you have a heart attack, or need a kidney transplant, or break a bone - you're probably going to choose the western system.
I always find it weird that people can't see alternative medicine is only used by advocates on problems than tend to come and go by themselves or are susceptible to placebo effect but any time something serious comes up like the problems you mentioned, people will turn to real scientifically backed techniques. Acupuncturist and chiropractors for example claim to treat much, much more than just back pain as well.
Re: The $100B per year back pain industry is mostly a hoax
#77Oh, but the subscriptions continue. They "cure a disease" with vaccines my friend...In fact they increase as vaccines are compulsively imposed on almost everybody...Note that the vaccine manufactures are immune from liability, so a vaccine is a perfect injection point for bioaccumulative toxins which create more future customers. > Indeed, and it is surely for the same reason that there isn't yet a pill I can take to…
(I can't delete my own comment, apparently)
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Re: The $100B per year back pain industry is mostly a hoax
#78I think a medical license is a total joke. Now instead of quacks peddling snake oil, we get extremely expensive quacks with diplomas peddling snake oil. My wife has back pain and we paid for a $1000 injection the doctor recommended that did nothing.
Quacks who repeat whatever their drug rep tells them. Can't be bothered to actually read the studies to see if they are rigorous or sham, that is, if they can actually tell the difference.
Re: The $100B per year back pain industry is mostly a hoax
#79http://sciencebasedmedicine.org/acupuncture-doesnt-work/
I'm the GP.
The reason why I'm replying is because I don't want people that can be helped by Acupuncture to reject it based on a misunderstanding of the claim.
I think there are several specific reasons why both the article which you link to can be true and also that acpuncture worked in my specific case and can work in cases that are similar.
First of all, as another reply alluded to, the article isn't testing for effectiveness for a specific problem. In fact, I believe, and continue to believe personally, that acupuncture may not solve for general problems. My half-joking, poke your foot to fix your liver being an example.
I would also like to point out that of all the things I tried, I had the least confidence in acupuncture. In terms of placebo, I was expecting and perhaps even hoping that it wouldn't work to prove myself right. In fact, I tried it almost mainly as a way to say that, "Hey! I tried everything. Even acupuncture! That's how you know I tried everything."
I had much higher confidence in everything else I tried.
I would also like to point out that the specific thing I think it solves is in releasing a muscle locked in spasm (though I may be getting the language wrong). I think if you don't have a muscle locked in spasm, it probably won't help.
My initial reaction to the improvement was that perhaps it was a coincidence. Although this seemed unlikely given that I had been trying for months with different practitioners and there was a difference before and after the session. I also thought that it was temporary and that maybe a day later things would revert, which they didn't.
I also felt that this was becoming more mainstream because I had some rehabilitation for an injured knee a few years later. Apparently I had a muscle locked in spasm (not the knee) and they used a needle to unlock it. Basically, put the needle into the locked muscle, move it a little, there is a physical jerk, and the muscle becomes unlocked.
Edit: Weakened some points to better reflect my position
Re: The $100B per year back pain industry is mostly a hoax
#80Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not work? But except for the parent and a lot of other people.
Seriously. I always roll my eyes when somebody claims that acupuncture "doesn't work," because it's worked for me on multiple occasions. Typically, it comes from people who have never tried it. A little over four years ago, I had a ton of shoulder pain. I went to two doctors, had an MRI scan, and was prescribed physical therapy. After all of that, I was still in pain, and neither of the doctors could figure out why,…
Why after decades then has acupuncture not been shown to work in any rigorous high quality studies? It's not like it hasn't been studied and proper studies are significantly more reliable than acendotes.