A newly published systematic review of systematic reviews tells us what we’ve known. Acupuncture doesn’t work for chronic pain.

A newly published systematic review of systematic reviews tells us what we’ve known. Acupuncture doesn’t work for chronic pain.
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.
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?
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.
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.