To think that accupuncture is a load of bollocks

[Pakdooik]

I've got a long term bad back - usually OK but every now and then it goes badly awry and I take myslef off to the physio.

The f**ng thing went as I was getting out of bed on Saturday so after a weekend of pain I got an emegency appointment this afternoon. My regular physio was fully booked so I had someone I'd not seen before.

In addition to the usual heat treatment and manipulation, she offered me accupuncture. Now I'll try anything if it'll aid my back so I said OK. But as I lay there for 20 minutes with 12 needles in my back, legs and feet having my "energy channelled" I couldn't help but think it was a load of old tripe.

Has anyone here had any benefit from the pin treatment?

Utter crock of shit. No evidence to suggest it works.

I have. I have MS. I had a relapse last year which made me incredibly unwell. I was left with a squint (nice!). I went for accupuncture, woke up the next day and the squint had gone. A year later I have reduced symptoms. I think you need to find a good doctor, not just someone who's trained to do this as part of a course. It takes years to build up the experience. I've also been to a couple of others and have had 'treatments' that have done nothing so it's a case of finding the right one maybe?

Has helped my neuralgia. Whether placebo affect or real I don't know. I don't believe all the rubbish though about energy channelled.

Yes I have. At times it's been so intense I've burst into floods of tears for no reason!
TBH I tend to find that the times it helps most are the times when I've been in incredible pain. The times it's not been so bad it hasn't done as much IYSWIM I think it is a credible treatment.
Sorry to hear about your back though :(

Helped me with back problems. I don't have chronic back pain but when it hurts from over doing it at work I'll have accupuncture (have a friend who does it) and it does help.

Has helped other friends with various problems too.

As you can see from the replies - some people swear it works. Crucially though, despite many tests/trials, there is still nothing to suggest it actually does work beyond placebo.

I tried for 4 years to get pregnant with DS2. 2 months after I had acupuncture I was pregnant.

mumbrane - I don't have the links to evidence but my GP has told me that acupuncture is one of the few "alternative" therapies which has proven effective for certain conditions, using scientific approaches to testing.

I have used acupuncture for turning DS2 when he suddenly went back-to-back during early labour. I could have kissed the therapist as thanks to her skill I managed to continue with a lovely home birth.

Placebo acupuncture (being poked with needles in places that do not have special energy channels or whatnot) works just as well as "real" acupuncture.

I had a trapped nerve in my arm once a GP at my surgery gave me a pricking and it was gone the next day, so it worked for me.

I had a terrible bout of sciatica (off work for 5 months) and suffered nerve damage to my left thigh. Acupuncture gave me some semblance of pain relief - for about 2 hours. Bliss.Needles in my hand and between my toes. Weird, but worked for me.

Calamity I thought I'd read that there was no benefit other than placebo. As I don't believe, I don't suppose it'll do me any good at all.

I don't swear by it Calamity, I was so unwell that I hadn't expected it to do anything. To go from having a squint that had lasted for 2 weeks one day, to no squint at all the next day is pretty odd though don't you think?

Ujjayi, that was my understanding too. (Although needle phobia would mean I would never, ever go down that route)

I had thought pain relief was the only thing that acupuncture had been proven to work on. Am I wrong in that? I thought it was why they offered it at pain clinics on the NHS

Placebos can sometimes work even if you know they are just placebos.

(by magic? who knows?)

I've had acupuncture a few times for back and shoulder pain and it has worked fantastically well.

The first time I hobbled in almost unable to straighten up and practically skipped out of there after treatment.

Disagree - definitely helped with ttc , inducing me and pain relief .

Now homeopathy and chiropractor I would agree didnt do much.

Trills Even on chronic bad backs? That'd be very nice indeed

worth a try, doesnt matter why something works imo, i would have rolled in chickenpoo if it worked for some people.I was that desperate, and the pain relief was real enough in my experience.

It has definitely helped increase my energy levels, I have fibromyalgia.

Oh and by the way mine doesn't show any effects til the following day. Have patience before being dismissive.

I thought acupuncture had tested as having a higher than placebo benefit?

Have you read up on the 'Nocebo' effect? Try to be positive whatever treatment you have.

It worked brilliantly for my SPD. Not for migranes though. So I'm skeptical.

Study from last year it was pills and IBS, the patients were told there there was nothing in the pills but they were also told that the pills with nothing in had been observed to help.

So - plenty of people find that acupuncture works. There is no reason to believe that it will work better than placebo, but that is better than nothing. Therefore if you have the acupuncture it is entirely possible that you will feel better than if you did not have the acupuncture.