Click on this link:

HERE!

or paste this in your browser window:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?CMD=Search&DB=PubMed

It will take you to the NIH PubMed (Medline database). You can put in 'acupuncture', 'homeopathy' or whatever you want to check out. Quite a bit of alternative medicines have been studied over the past 20 years..

Sir, I hope and pray that your daughter continues to improve, and lives a full and happy life.

Hello Mr. Steyer,

I find it unconscionable that alternative medicines are just now being seriously scrutinized by the US Government. It seems clear to me that an unbiased application of the Scientific Method will shed light on a subject plagued with anecdotal evidence. The scientific method makes no distinction between "herbal remedies" and "western medicine". It's merely an heuristic used to investigate the reality behind a claim. As such, results from an acupuncturist are as investigable as those of your local eurologist.

btw, the entire documentary is able to be viewed from that website.

As far as acupuncture being clinically proven by western methods, that can be a very dificult task. One of the procedures is having a "double-blind" test in which neither the patient nor the practioner knows whether or not they are getting or giving real acupuncture. On the side of the person giving the acupuncture, there are too many variables such as finding a point's proper location (a textbook location may not be what is called for during a treatment) and proper stimulation of the needles in order to have a realistic effect on the body. These are just two variables. When looking at western studies of acupuncture, many tests do not take these in consideration.

In my opinion, acupuncture is nothing but a science that we can't explain yet by western means. Remember that back in the day when people knew the medicinal usage for plants were called wicthes. For example, if a woman gave someone white willow's bark for a headache and they felt better, she was called a witch. Now a days they are called herbologists and pharmachologists.

just my $.02

Chris from CT

Hello Sir,

"As far as acupuncture being clinically proven by western methods, that can be a very dificult task. "

Difficult, but do-able.

The claim is that receiving acupuncture treatment will produce a benefit. As the Frontline special tested, some people were given a placebo (pretend needles), others were given actual acupuncture. One will then view the results. Did the actual acupuncture produce a SIGNIFICANT improvement of the placebo? If it did not, the claim of the efficacy of acupuncture is not helped...

"When looking at western studies of acupuncture, many tests do not take these in consideration. "

Though I cannot comment on the improved efficacy of electrically stimulated needles, acupuncture itself certainly ought to be effective without the juice. To claim otherwise would be to claim that the entire history of acupuncture was pure charlatanry up until a charge was put in the needles. I don't think many would make such a claim.

"Though I cannot comment on the improved efficacy of electrically stimulated needles, acupuncture itself certainly ought to be effective without the juice."

Absolutely. I should have made this more clear. When I said "stimulation," I was refering to the physical manipulation of the needles by the practitioners hand, not necessarily the addition of electrical stimulation. When a practitioner does acupuncture they are not just dropping a needile into a body at any given point. Although there are certain techniques, like those of Dr. Nguyen Van Nghi, that are inserted superficially with no physical stimulation, those are not the norm and are not for every patient nor treatment. Usually some type of manual manipulation is used once the needle is inserted.

Take care