"A statement of fact cannot be insolent." The miscellaneous ramblings of a surgeon/scientist on medicine, quackery, science, and pseudoscience (and anything else that interests him).

Tag: chronic pain

NCCIH: Co-opting “nonpharmacologic” treatments for pain as being “alternative” or “complementary”

Post author By Orac
Post date September 12, 2016
33 Comments on NCCIH: Co-opting “nonpharmacologic” treatments for pain as being “alternative” or “complementary”

I’ve been critical of the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH), which was until relatively recently known as the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) ever since I first discovered that it existed, lo, these many years ago. When I first discovered NCCIH, what struck me is how much pseudoscience it […]

Tags #talkpain, acupuncture, chronic pain, fibromyalgia, low back pain, National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, NCCAM, NCCIH, quackery

Clinical trials Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Skepticism/critical thinking

Can we finally just say that acupuncture is nothing more than an elaborate placebo? Can we? (2012 edition)

Post author By Orac
Post date September 12, 2012
82 Comments on Can we finally just say that acupuncture is nothing more than an elaborate placebo? Can we? (2012 edition)

I sense a disturbance in the skeptical blogosphere. It is something that I half-expected, but, even so, it nonetheless somewhat surprised me when it arrived in the form of comments on my blog and e-mails from readers, fellow supporters of science-based medicine, and others asking me what I thought. In a way, it makes me […]

Tags acupuncture, chronic pain, clinical trial, headache, low back pain, meta-analysis, NCCAM, Samueli Institute

Share this:

Share this: