Acupuncture.

Essential Facts About A Major Scam

An excellent example of biased "positive only" results:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9551280

The above article defending herbal remedies and acupuncture states:

"Acupuncture is a traditional technique developed over two thousand years

ago based on the insertion of needles or more recently electrical stimulation,
based on the Chinese medical theory that diseases are caused by blockages
in the flow of energy within the body." 

Better than Hypodermic standard needles 2,000 years ago? And no reports of
Traditional Chinese Autoclaving or sterilisation? Just Mystical Good News?

Or, Chinese medical theory? Really? Even I'd take a closer look at that claim.
And the Natural reality is...

False at every turn, and demonstrably so. No research - none - has

documented the claimed existence/attributes of energy meridians, qi or even
acupuncture points - which have risen from 360 [days of year with no
anatomical relevance] to 2,000 in a few decades thanks to Western
marketing, bogus diploma courses and general unaccountability manifesting
in mock up journals. Reflexologists claim 5,000 years.

Earliest Chinese texts are from 3rd century BC, and no mention of any
needling is in evidence. By 90 BC needling of infected wounds and
bloodletting was reported. Archeological evidence is robust and
unambiguous. Needles used were huge. It was not until the 1600's that the
technology to manufacture acupuncture needles existed. 

So, immediately we're down to a generous 400 years.

In 1680 the first Western accounts of Chinese medicine [TCM was introduced
by Mao in the 1960's] by Wilhelm Rhijn did not mention acupuncture points,
"qi" or energy flow. Needles were shoved into wombs and skulls for "thirty
respirations".

USA try this technique for drowning victims from 1826, reporting 100% failure
and that they "gave up in disgust". Western reports of "acupuncture" over

Paul Gallagher. April 28th, 2011.

early 1900's mention not one word of the practice we're today told is 2,000
years old: no points, qi or meridians. 

In fact, it mirrored mechanical nociceptor stimulation and endorphin release,

with needles jabbed into site of pain. 

By the 1900's, "Qi" is still "vapour emitted by, or arising from food". Meridians
are still inert vessels/channels with no bodily association. 

So, we're down to a few decades - but how few?

Enter... The French. Georges Soulie de Morant coined the usage of

"meridian" to justify his belief that energy or "qi" moved throughout the body. 

He is the first properly documented human being to make that link. It was
1939. However, we had to wait until 1957 until another Frenchman invented
auricular acupuncture. Note this is not 'today's acupuncture', nor the claimed
"ancient method". It is the notion of unseen energies. Similarly, today we hear
much of non existent "toxins" where once we heard of disease carrying
"Miasmas". 

Some others in France accept this concept. Most French doctors claim this is
"resurrecting an absurd doctrine from well deserved oblivion". 

So, we're down to 53 years have no scientific or medical community support

and seem to be nowhere near China. 
Oh - that "TCM" phrase is yet to exist also. Why?

Indeed, the only nation to strive to ban acupuncture was China, between
1822 and WWII, under the Chinese Nationalist Government. Post revolution,
Mao was faced with the reality after wiping out and exiling his science and
medicine community. Disease spiked immediately. 

Enter his "Barefoot Doctors" who provided cheap and dangerous "alternative
medicine", and broached the power of the Peoples Army when ordered to
physically catch all fresh water dwelling snails capable of passing on
the parasite responsible for schistosomiasis - causing "Big Belly". 

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4990242

Mao's government coined the term "traditional Chinese medicine" - TCM,

including herbal medicine, acupuncture, moxibustion and more in the

Paul Gallagher. April 28th, 2011.

1960's. Mao despised the notion, never using any "TCM". He had little trouble
manufacturing an entire fake history which - ironically - we in the West could
access with ease, from a nation proudly able to suppress the flow of air, much
less information. 

Chinese do not use the TCM we have invented here in The West. In 1995 a
group of visiting American medico's were informed between 15-20% of
Chinese use herbal medicine. Almost no Chinese medicine is used in and of
itself but with mainstream medicine. It is considered a sign of poor class and
ignorance to use any "TCM" by the Chinese in general. 

As a student living at Beijing's "Institute of Physical Culture" in 1985, I could

access acupuncture treatment and patients in Beijing hospital during highly
choreographed visits - the staple of Dictatorships. Once, it took us half a day
to find an acupuncturist for a severely concussed colleague. The equivalent
to our AIS this institute focussed on winning Olympic Gold. In effect, the iron
control that tore athlete families apart in pursuit of national identity also
banned any and all "natural medicine". 

The Australian Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine Association is a

celebration of meaningless “qualifications”, codes of ethics and standards –
all carefully crafted by themselves. So, what's happening within this multi-
billion dollar industry that need face no tribunals, provide data nor adhere to
Australian Medical Standards? 

Clearly it is a Western marketing success on the back of Communist Dictator

Mao's smirking at - then - superior economies. We were scammed via our
own gullibility, still are by the Wellness Industry and China has indeed had the
last laugh.

Acupuncture is a documented placebo effect. If you think youʼre getting it – it

works, whether you are, or not. Itʼs you – the recipient who does this “mystical
thing”.

"In the best controlled studies, only one thing mattered: whether the patients
believed they were getting acupuncture. If they believed they got the real
thing, they got better pain relief – whether they actually got acupuncture or
not! If they got acupuncture but believed they didnʼt, it was less likely to work.
If they didnʼt get it but believed they did, it was more likely to work.

Acupuncturists can rationalize with great ingenuity. In a recent study using

sham acupuncture as a control, both the sham placebo acupuncture and the
true acupuncture worked equally well and were better than no treatment. The
Paul Gallagher. April 28th, 2011.
obvious conclusion was that acupuncture was no better than placebo. Their
conclusion was that acupuncture worked and the placebo acupuncture
worked too!"

http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/?p=252

The greatest concern is the use of Oppositional therapy within complimentary

therapy. More and more this trick is defined not by what is does - nothing - but
by what Monstrous Medicine does to us. Simply - forcing "chemicals", drugs
and disease onto unsuspecting "cattle", to maintain profit. 

Subjecting high risk D&A clients to this culture is fraught with risk. It skirts with
AIDS denialism, homeopathy, conspiracy theories and insistence of
fantastically impossible cures, treatments and claims about nature itself.
Natural meds often work - aspirin is an example of a properly controlled
natural drug, still being researched today. 

"Alternative" meds have been shown to not work, or not ever been shown to
work. When they do work they become... Medicine.

Refs:

Power Point presentation:

http://drspinello.com/altmed/acuvet/acuvet_files/frame.htm

Acupuncture, placebo effect:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=866YvYJRvWw
Even Fake Acupuncture is better than none

10 Herbal Myths

Is TCM a fraud?

Science Based Medicine: “Puncturing the acupuncture myth”

Relexology

TCM Discovery

Lowering blood pressure naturally

Placebo: Mind over matter – Google Book

Tim Minchin's STORM - humour:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UB_htqDCP-s
Paul Gallagher. April 28th, 2011.
Paul Gallagher. April 28th, 2011.