Is there any legitimacy to accupuncture?

[Whateverist]

One personal story in favor of chiropractors.

In my late twenties I developed a kink or soreness in my neck that became so painful that I couldn't lay down at night and barely slept at all in a reclining chair.  My doctor could do nothing that helped and acupuncture was a joke.  But when I went to the chiropractor, he did one 'adjustment' with his hands which was an instant fix.  No woo.  No talk of a return visit.  If I experienced anything like that again, a chiropractor would be my first stop.

I saw this post while ago and wanted to ask you did you first try to go to the physical therapist? Massages and physical therapy are often essential parts of injury recovery, but if improperly performed, they absolutely have potential to cause more damage and make a bad situation worse. That's why physical therapists, who are not doctors, still must have taken an accredited four-to-six-year college program and must pass a national physical therapy examination and not to mention stuff like national physical therapy examination and an examination on the laws and regulations governing the practice of physical therapy.

I mean, sure, some of these chiropractors are doing conventional physical therapy but without having taken the training and passed the tests, and they're getting away with it because they're calling it chiropractic.

I didn't have any medical coverage at that time so I didn't go through a regular physician at all.  I was just calling people I thought could help at random, using what wits are available to someone unable to sleep at night.  I'm sure you're right though that chiropractor I dialed had some standard knowledge of physical therapy.  If he was one of those who are looking to rope people into chiropractic as a way of life he probably decided I couldn't afford it.  I know there are more than a few of them wrapped in woo.

[DodosAreDead]

Someone I know very well used to suffer from frequent UTIs. Got acupuncture done and has been completely fine for about four years now. Personally I would only do it as a last resort, but it doesn't seem like complete bullshit.

[no one]

I know people who swear by it. People who are generally rational human beings. So personally, I would not be so quick to casr it by the wayside. If you think about it, for each and every ailment there is a natural remedy. It's just a matter of finding it.

[GrandizerII]

Putting aside placebo effects (and therapeutic benefits in general), what has acupuncture achieved that conventional medicine has failed to do? Properly controlled experiments comparing the effects of acupuncture to conventional physiotherapy (and/or other mainstream forms of therapy) would perhaps be the most effective way to determine legitimacy of acupuncture.

[CapnAwesome]

Pretty much no. It does out perform placebo for certain types of pain, but only extremely marginally. Less effective than asprin at a zillion times the cost.

---

I know people who swear by it. People who are generally rational human beings. So personally, I would not be so quick to casr it by the wayside. If you think about it, for each and every ailment there is a natural remedy. It's just a matter of finding it.

Except they have done studies on it.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/ar...4383911178

[brewer]

I know people who swear by it. People who are generally rational human beings. So personally, I would not be so quick to casr it by the wayside. If you think about it, for each and every ailment there is a natural remedy. It's just a matter of finding it.

No, there is not.

[FatAndFaithless]

What, perchance, is the natural remedy for pancreatic cancer?

[brewer]

Waiting to hear that death is the natural remedy.

[CapnAwesome]

I know people who swear by it. People who are generally rational human beings. So personally, I would not be so quick to casr it by the wayside. If you think about it, for each and every ailment there is a natural remedy. It's just a matter of finding it.

No, there is not.

Haha. I had AIDS but I took garlic and hempseed, now it's all better.

[FatAndFaithless]

No, there is not.

Haha. I had AIDS but I took garlic and hempseed, now it's all better.

Liar.  AIDS is well known to be cured by aligning your chakras and rolling in healing crystals.