{"id":2581,"date":"2009-05-14T10:53:00","date_gmt":"2009-05-14T14:53:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.willclower.com\/blog\/2009\/05\/acupuncture-who-knows-why-eases-back-pain.html"},"modified":"2016-09-21T10:21:23","modified_gmt":"2016-09-21T14:21:23","slug":"acupuncture-who-knows-why-eases-back-pain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/?p=2581","title":{"rendered":"Acupuncture (who knows why?) Eases Back Pain"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>
This really makes no sense. Sticking needles into your skin along the “meridians” that allegedly course through your body.<\/p>\n

But here’s the issue: <\/u><\/strong>
knowing WHY something works is not a prerequisite to it working. And, if we don’t understand it yet, if it does not fit with any of our ways of thinking, if it makes no sense based on our theories of physiology … maybe we should reconsider what we think we think we know.<\/p>\n

Because, for back pain, any kind of acupuncture, whether it pierced the skin or not, eased chronic lower back pain in a group of adult patients. Click here for the article.<\/a><\/p>\n

“All were superior to usual care,” said Daniel Cherkin, lead author of a report published in the May 11 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine<\/em>. “Acupuncture is an effective treatment for chronic back pain. People receiving acupuncture are more likely to get better.”<\/p>\n

Boom.<\/p>\n

This trial, the largest randomized one of its kind, was funded by the National Center for complementary and Alternative Medicine, part of the U.S. National Institutes of Health.<\/p>\n

Medication use in all the acupuncture groups decreased immediately and over the next year. About two-thirds of patients were taking medication, mostly painkillers such as nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). By eight weeks, that had declined to 47 percent in the acupuncture groups and 59 percent in the usual-care group.<\/p>\n

We just don’t know why acupuncture is so effective, although some theories persist. According to this article, “it’s possible that the “superficial” acupuncture still kicks off a cascade of physiological processes that result in relief.”<\/p>\n

That is science lingo for, “um, it looks like it works.”<\/p>\n

Janet Konefal, a licensed acupuncturist and assistant dean for complementary and integrative medicine at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, said she was not surprised that non-puncture stimulation had equal effects.<\/p>\n

“You can stimulate a point with pressure, needle, electricity, even now with laser light and different frequencies of laser light,” she said. “‘Pecking’ on a point is a Japanese technique for stimulation. You might use that with someone who is older or weak in their constitution. That could explain why two different methods of stimulation work equally well.”<\/p>\n

More information
The U.S. National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine<\/a> has more on acupuncture.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This really makes no sense. Sticking needles into your skin along the “meridians” that allegedly course through your body. But here’s the issue: knowing WHY something works is not a … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[494],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2581","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7Qv5g-FD","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2083,"url":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/?p=2083","url_meta":{"origin":2581,"position":0},"title":"Stupid Headline Gives Me PMS","author":"Will Clower","date":"June 11, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"I read this Health News Headline from Reuters, and got instantly bummed out. \"Evidence for acupuncture PMS relief is Shaky.\"\u00a0(I'll be talking about this on my show today: listen live by clicking here)I was bummed because A) I really like acupuncture as a treatment ... and it's use for treating\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Articles"","block_context":{"text":"Articles","link":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/?cat=494"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1971,"url":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/?p=1971","url_meta":{"origin":2581,"position":1},"title":"Get Needled to improve your allergy symptoms … just a bit.","author":"Will Clower","date":"February 19, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"(Reuters Health) - Acupuncture may help improve seasonal allergy symptoms in some people with runny noses and watery eyes, according to a new study - but the effect seems to be small.Researchers found 71 percent of people reported an improvement in their allergies after eight weeks of acupuncture. But so\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Articles"","block_context":{"text":"Articles","link":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/?cat=494"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.willclower.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/Acupuncture.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2078,"url":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/?p=2078","url_meta":{"origin":2581,"position":2},"title":"RadioWill: IS this the Dumbest Headline of the Week?","author":"Will Clower","date":"June 13, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Acupuncture ... does it help alleviate PMS symptoms??\u00a0The article says that the data are SHAKY!!\u00a0It reports on a recent science study, BUT, when you wade in past the headlines, the body of the article gets a little stupid.\u00a0Click Here To Listen To The Clip For more information: Click here to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Articles"","block_context":{"text":"Articles","link":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/?cat=494"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/-O_Kd9s7uki0\/TfYBQ0YLkzI\/AAAAAAAADI0\/4t67EtXeMVM\/s320\/Acupuncture.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2489,"url":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/?p=2489","url_meta":{"origin":2581,"position":3},"title":"Radio Program Today!!","author":"Will Clower","date":"October 28, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"My radio program is today (10\/28) from 3-6pm EST. Three hours!! I love it though, and it's a great way to talk to people who are involved in our Culture of Health. ** One of my guests is an acupuncturist. I'm going to be asking him about why it works,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Articles"","block_context":{"text":"Articles","link":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/?cat=494"},"img":{"alt_text":"Bookmark and Share","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/s7.addthis.com\/static\/btn\/v2\/lg-share-en.gif?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2526,"url":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/?p=2526","url_meta":{"origin":2581,"position":4},"title":"Conventional medicine loses?","author":"Will Clower","date":"August 5, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Americans spend $34B annually for alternative medicine treatments. http:\/\/m.apnews.com\/ap\/db_16052\/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=kTTQk3riThis amazing number tells you that people are moving away fromconventional medicine. They trust the alternative approaches more.Conventional medicine is responding to this shift in market share by trying to incorporate chiropractic, acupuncture, etc., into their treatments.That's a great outcome of basic\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Articles"","block_context":{"text":"Articles","link":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/?cat=494"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9925,"url":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/?p=9925","url_meta":{"origin":2581,"position":5},"title":"Stretching For The “Low Hanging Fruit” Of Lower Back Pain","author":"Will Clower","date":"May 12, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"About a year ago I started waking up with a sore lower back. There are so many things it could be, like maybe the mattress is too soft, maybe it was an old injury flareup, maybe it's just my age? 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