"Sham" acupuncture could be as effective as the real thing

Reference:
Nightingale S.(2010, September 13) "Sham" acupuncture could be as effective as the real thing. Republished on 2010-09-13 from: http://lubbockonline.com/interact/blog-post/sarah-nightingale/2010-09-13/sham-acupuncture-could-be-effective-real-thing

Summary:
The article “"Sham" acupuncture could be as effective as the real thing” by Sarah N.(2010) shows that acupuncture works the same as a placebo. A new study which is on patients who have a knee problem, the result implies that there is no difference between real acupuncture and sham acupuncture. Both of them work. From the National Institutes of Health reports, we know that Osteoarthritis is a normal disease of American people; mostly the acupuncturist uses thin needles and electricity to cure it. Dr. Suarez. Almazor expresses the function of acupuncture. An issue of Arthritis Care and Research also adds up to this opinion by their research. And NIH workers will still work on sham acupuncture to see how it works.

Response:
As a traditional treatment, acupuncture has the same status as Chinese herbs and massage. Eventually, acupuncture is underlined as the most important treatment in a Chinese medical system. Now, people do not focus in on the debate of meridian, they are studying the function of acupuncture to make sure it works as a placebo or not. From many studies, the evidence shows it is a placebo. On the other hand, some studies prove that acupuncture has influence more than placebo. From my experience, acupuncture can act as a placebo; meanwhile, it works more than a placebo does. With a placebo, when you stop using it, it doesn’t work. But with real acupuncture, when you stop using it, it still works. We call that continual treatment, which means the function does not deteriorate. That depends on the. For example, if a lady has insomnia because she worries too much, we need to make her relax first. And we choose some points for her to do the real acupuncture. When she can sleep, we will cut down to the needles, or just make the needles as a placebo, which the lady will fall back on. But later, just show her that she has recovered. Some patients still need the needles though the needles work as the placebo. But that’s good for the patients.

For Acupuncture, Proof In The Placebo

For Acupuncture, Proof In The Placebo

Reference: Tara Parker-Pope (2010, September 5) FOR ACUPUNCTURE, PROOF IN THE PLACEBO
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/cndy/2010-09/05/content_11257672.htm


Summary:
From the article “For Acupuncture, Proof In The Placebo” by Tara Parker-Pope, we know that there is an argument about the influence of acupuncture. Some studies show that acupuncture acts as a placebo. And example is a study by the lead author, Dr. Maria E. Suarez-Almazor, which is about 455 patients with painful knee arthritis; the consequence is claimed in the journal Arthritis Care that there is no difference between acupuncture and placebo treatment. Both of the two groups can relieve pain. But a 2007 German study of 1,200 back-pain patients implicates the patients who did the real acupuncture were less likely to ask for medicine to relieve pain. According to Dr. Eleanor M. Walker, she believe acupuncture works mors than placebo. Its effect is long term, but placebo is useless when you stop to use. Also Angela Johnson has the same opinion and he is working on it.

Reaction:
Acupuncture has more than 5,000 years of history; there are some arguments about it. First, is there existence of a meridian? Because nobody has been able to prove it is in the body yet. Second, does acupuncture make sense to disease? Because some studies show that acupuncture is a kind of placebo. But believe or not, acupuncture is being used every day to cure disease. The theory which people use is the same as the Chinese herbs. They believe there are two kinds of energy that stay in the body which keep people alive. When one kind of energy becomes less or extra, people get ill. What the acupuncturists should do is cut the extra or add to the one with less one. People believe most of the reasons that cause disease are natural, for example, the bad weather, or going out at night; the acupuncturists always call that evil. For the acupuncturists, they need to discriminate what the condition of the patients is, and weather there is extra energy or less. The evil is in the skin or muscle or bone or organs. Then they can decide which specific points should be chosen. For the back pain, most patients have a problem with muscle. The acupuncturist compares it to the blocked river; the water stopping there causes problems. The same as the meridian; you need to mediate them.

Acupuncture to get heritage designation

Reference: Juan Shan. (2010,September 14) Acupuncture to get heritage designation. Xinhua.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/china/2010-09/14/c_13493956.htm

Summary:
This article “Acupuncture to get heritage designation” is telling about how China is applying acupuncture, the needle therapy of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), as a UNESCO world intangible cultural heritage. Wu Gang, who is deputy director of the State TCM administration says China started this program in 2003, and tried to figure out the standard. Now in China, there are 600,000 license for Traditional Chinese Medicine doctors; all of them can practiceacupuncture legally. Acupuncture is widely used outside of China in places such as Japan, the United States, Germany and the Republic of Korea. The notion was dismissed between China and the Republic of Korea. The WHO standard is trying to make another name for Chinese acupuncture. Of course, the Chinese should do more to improve themselves. He also mentioned that the Republic of Korea succeeded in adding the Ganjeung Danojie (Duanwu) Festival, which belongs to China, onto the World Intangible Cultural Heritage list in 2005.

Reaction:
Acupuncture is a theory of Traditional Chinese Medicine which originated in China. This kind of theory is famous for being hard to understand and as a wellness treatments. But now in China, fewer and fewer people learn about acupuncture or believe in acupuncture. On the other hand, acupuncture is widely used outside of China. More and more people learn and use it. Maybe one day, no one will know it comes from China. Now China has tried to keep this as a part of its culture. According to TCM psychological theories, mental disorders can be cured through "coordination of yin and yang and treatment of both mind and body." But the definition of “yin” and “yang’ are abstract. Everything about quiet, decreasing, belongs to “yin”. Everything about activity, increasing, belongs to “yang”. People get ill because “yin” and “yang” are unstable in the body. So, the treatment is to adjust the stability. And the meridian is invisible. The treatment of each patient who has the same disease is different. For example, for a headache, we may choose the points on the head, but also can choose the points on the arm.

Acupuncture: the new painkiller

Reference: Larmer Christina.(2010,August 15) Acupuncture: the new painkiller

http://www.lexisnexis.com/hottopics/lnacademic/
Summary:
This article "Acupuncture: the new painkiller about acupuncture in Australia."by Christina Larmer tells about acupuncture in Australia. More people realize acupuncture is very useful to relieve pain in a short time. Some hospitals have emergencies to help the patients. Some studies show that acupuncture is better than the western medicine. Also, more and more people have started to learn acupuncture. Acupuncture is individual for everyone; you need to talk to the doctor first.
Reaction:
Acupuncture has thousands of years of history. It is helpful and safe way to treat many diseases though it’s hard for people to understand the theories. But more and more people accept that because of the significant treatment. For most people, they feel mystery about the needles, and most of the time they are afraid of needles. No matter whatever you believe it or not, acupuncture has had an important role in the medical history. Acupuncture is very convenicnt for people; you don’t need many assistant tools except needles. When you are taking treatment, you can sit down or lie down, or sleep taking needles sometimes. In many countries, they admit the effect of acupuncture. Some of them make acupuncture as a part of health insurance such as Canada.

Evidence-based medicine in China

Reference: Jiyao Wang. February13, 2010. Evidence-based medicine in China http://www.lexisnexis.com/hottopics/lnacademic/?

summary:
This article shows, recently, people have become aware that Chinese medicine is more and more important to their health. They did a lot of work to this information. They also made some committee to give people this knowledge as much as they can. But it seems didn’t make sense. Most patients went to the small hospitals which are in the countryside. Doctors in the countryside didn’t get too much of this knowledge. They can’t enjoy these resourse enough. People should focus on these doctors who work in the countryside. They need more knowledge to cure patients.

Reaction:
Now more and more people realize Chinese medicine is more important to their health. More and more patients would like to see the Chinese medical doctor. Doctors who work in the big city, get good education. But doctors who work in the countryside have less education than those who work in the city. That might be because of the money. In the big city, you can earn more money. So most doctors would like to stay in the big city. But patients in the countryside also need to be cured. And if the doctors are not good enough, they are not knowledgeable. That would be bad for the medical system, also for the patients. We should give more chance to these doctors who work in the countryside about learning more medical knowledge. We can make some measures to encourage doctors who work in the countryside learn more.