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?

Well you have found that it didn't work for you. However, plenty of people say the opposite. Whatever floats your boat and all that.

There is a considerable amount of research demonstrating that acupuncture is effective in the relief of back pain.

www.acupuncture.org.uk/research-fact-sheets/1127-acupuncture-and-back-pain.html

Of course, it doesn't work for every patient.

Twice in my life I have had uncontrolled asthma attacks. Both times went down the hospital, doctors, drugs, more drugs route, but nothing helped.
As a last resort (both times) I tried acupuncture, with fantastic results.

I think there is also mounting evidence for the effectiveness of acupuncture, with MRI scans backing up the claims. (will try to find some links later)

I wouldn't hold much faith with practice nurses and doctors who have done a weekend course. I prefer someone with 3 years + qualifications.

Well, I have never had acupuncture but, ahem, my horse has.

The poor horse was extremely lame and in a bad way, 2 vets had diagnosed incurable lameness and said retire her or have her put to sleep. I didn't want to do either and out of desperation tried acupuncture. As the treatment progressed my horse gradually relaxed and by the end of it was doing the happy horse lick and chomp thing.

I was gobsmacked as I had no expectation that it would work. It was amazing. That was 10 years ago and dear horse is still going strong.

I thought there had been some research that suggest that acupuncture may have a stronger than placebo effect for pain relief.

I'd look for a different practitioner. I've used three, two had no effect at all, one was amazing. Look for an older chinese doctor as they will have more experience and knowledge.

On the same principle, pressing the accupressure wrist points for nausea stops my morning sickness every time. It is one of the most "mainstream" alternative therapies isn't it.

Doing things that don't do anything often does do something.

In a very weird way.

Yeah, it works for horses. But then horses are very gullible beasts.

Worked for me, no more menopausal symptoms at all.

No hot flushes or night sweats : )

Would absolutely recommend it!

Chronic lower back pain - worked for me.

It has worked for me and the dc. There are actually studies which show it works, not just placebo. Iirc it's been proven effective in the treatment of migraines, but can't really remember which other illnesses the GPs accept it for.

However racehorse owners swear by it. And they have a lot of money riding on it.

It worked for my dad. I've only seen him cry once and that was when he had sciatica. It was awful. He crawled out of the house to his acupuncture session and walked back - has never had it since!

Folks - many thanks for your comments. I'll see how it feels in the morning - the practitioner said that it might get better before it gets worse. I'm due back for another session on Wednesday morning. I have to decide whether to have more needles or not.

Tea time now

One of the vets at my work does acupuncture and has a 90% success rate especially with arthritic dogs and animals don't know/understand placebos etc so I definately think it works

You're not unreasonable to think whatever you like, but I will be forever grateful to my acupuncturist - without him I don't think we'd have DS. You have to get a good one though - mine actually teaches acupuncture. DH encountered a physio who thought he knew acupuncture. It landed him in A & E!

I'm a believer! My friend's dog had it regularly and the effect on him was amazing - he would go into the vet's limping and come out bounding about like a puppy. As far as I'm aware, no-one told the dog about the placebo affect!

And another friend in the States is a specialist in Traditional Chinese Medicine and acupuncture is fully funded by many insurance companies when couples go through IVF. Apparently it raises the chances of successful implantation by around 50% (or something, don't have the figures in front of me). American insurers aren't known for flinging their money around... Stick with it OP and hope you feel better soon.

Actually when I was having IVF it was the one alternative practice that I was not discouraged from having by the medics. There is no proof that it can make a difference to the likely outcome, but studies have shown that people undergoing acupuncture alongside IVF have had a slightly higher success rate. I had it and the IVF worked - could well have been coincidence of course.

Am currently undergoing acupuncture for a trapped nerve and all I can say is that I have felt better the day Ive had treatment - however, that could be the massage which I'm having as well.

I am hugely cynical of alternative therapies generally (and no way could my nerve pain have been helped by a placebo effect - its been agony!) but do believe that acupuncture can help alleviate some symptoms for some people some of the time.

Just saw Nemo's post - [blub emoticon]

Yes, respect to the horse which was saved from the knacker by acupuncture.

slight cross posts with Wilson!

I had it to treat pain that I had had in my pelvis for about 6 months. Within 4 weeks it was gone. DP had a course to treat neck pain. Unfortunately, it didn't work quite so well for him, as it would only alleviate his symptoms for about two weeks, before they got worse again. However, it did seem to have the strange side effect of drastically improving his squash game, as he had a couple of months of blinding form, went up a group in the league, only for him never to have replicated that standard once the treatment stopped!

Yep, I'm very glad I found an equine vet who specialised in acupuncture. It seemed to give another horse I know some relief from navicular but not to the extent.

The marvellous Cochrane library reports that there Have been quite a few trials of acupuncture for different issues, and that some have shown an effect.

www.cochrane.org/search/site/Acupuncture?page=1

Worked for me.