A newly published systematic review of systematic reviews tells us what we've known. Acupuncture doesn't work for chronic pain.
Tag: acupuncture
UCHealth: Making pseudoscientific claims about acupuncture
UCHealth just published an article about acupuncture full of pseudoscientific claims. What is wrong with the University of Colorado? It looks like another academic medical center has fallen victim to quackademic medicine.
Acupuncture for xerostomia: Spin, spin, spin a negative study!
Investigators at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center reported the results of a trial of acupuncture for xerostomia (dry mouth) secondary to radiation therapy for head and neck cancers. It was a negative trial, but investigators still tried to spin it as positive, but with a twist. There was a large difference between results found at M.D. Anderson and the second site in China. What could be going on?
Primo vascular system: An “explanation” for acupuncture meridians?
Acupuncturists have been trying to explain why no anatomic structure corresponds to meridians. Enter the primo vascular system, which circulates electricity in DNA. Or stem cells. Or something.
NIH HEAL Initiative: $1 billion to study “integrative” nonpharmacologic treatments for pain
The NIH HEAL Initiative is designed to study "nonpharmacologic treatments for pain." What it will really study will include heaping helpings of "integrative medicine" pseudoscience.
“Dr.” Tad Sztykowski: One reason why acupuncture should not be licensed
Tad Sztykowski is an acupuncturist who lost his acupuncture license for misrepresenting himself as a physician. His case is a good illustration of why licensing quack specialties like acupuncture is bad policy.
Animal Planet: Showcasing acupuncture quackery at the San Diego Zoo
A recent episode of The Zoo:San Diego featured acupuncture quackery at the San Diego Zoo. But it's even worse than that. Tembo the elephant was subjected to more than just acupuncture quackery.
A bait-and-switch study of acupuncture in stable chronic angina
This week, JAMA Internal Medicine published a clinical trial purporting to find that acupuncture helps stable angina. Here's a hint: It doesn't. It's a bait-and-switch study that used "electroacupuncture" instead of acupuncture with poor blinding and lack of consideration of prior plausibility.
HB 4710: Acupuncturists are trying again to license their quackery—and more
Last month, HB 4710, a bill to license acupuncturists, was considered by the Michigan House of Representatives Health Policy Committee. If passed into law, HB 4710 would do far more than license the quackery that is acupuncture. It would also expand the scope of practice of acupuncturists to include homeopathy, “health coaching”, and dietary advice, and is yet another example of what practitioners of pseudoscientific medicine crave: State-granted legitimacy.
Trojan horse: Selling “integrative oncology” as science-based
Integrative oncology "integrates" quackery with oncology. Its practitioners, however, frequently delude themselves that their specialty is science-based. A recent review article by two integrative oncologists from Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center expresses that delusion perfectly.