Acupuncture in mainstream media
Posted September 24th, 2007 by river Jordan
An article somewhat buried on today's NY Times "blog" page: http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/09/24/back-pain-moving-the-needles/
echoed a similar article carried as an AP story in the Seattle paper on the effectiveness of acupuncture.
Interestingly (erroneously and not surprisingly), the AP story
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/health/1500AP_Back_Pain_Acupuncture.html?s...
quote acupuncture's cost as $45 to $100.
There are probably several other oddities related to the study which I don't have time to comment on at the moment, but thought this worthy of discussion.
Re: Acupuncture in mainstream media
How bout an "acupuncture doesn't have to cost that much" letter-to-the-ed. campaign?
Re: Acupuncture in mainstream media
Maureen,
I like your positive spin. Of course, one could argue that our profession doesn't get the respect it deserves in our mainstream media (e.g. the sensational focus on the apparent claim that this study shows that the placebo acupuncture is just as effective as intentional acupuncture).
However, perhaps that's just the collective karma of our profession's early years in America, trying to follow in the footsteps of high priced care.
Meanwhile, as you say, if we focus on the positive in these studies - that acupuncture does work - and politely inform people about the alternatives to paying $45 to $100/tx, that karma will change and I dare say we will get better professional respect as our movement continues to grow.
Re: Acupuncture in mainstream media
I actually see studies like this one as good promotion for community acupuncture. In countries without universal health coverage that includes acupuncture, few people can afford treatments of the frequency and number that research protocols use. In this German study, for instance, patients had acupuncture twice a week for 5 weeks, with an additional 10 treatments for partial responders. The U of Maryland study of acupuncture for knee osteoarthritis that got a lot of press when it was published in 2004 had a similar protocol, 23 treatments over 26 weeks, starting out twice weekly.
My experience is that many people who hear about studies like this from the media initially hope that acupuncture will be a quick fix, that one treatment will be curative. Once they understand that multiple treatments will be necessary for good results, most decide that acupuncture is not an option for them because they can't afford a series of treatments. Community acupuncture makes it possible.
Re: Acupuncture in mainstream media
Acupuncture a placebo? I found that a simple and easy answer to this is acupuncture works on animals also--dogs, horses, etc., who don't understand Qi or the concept of meridians and do not have "faith" that acupuncture will work on them to relieve their pain, etc.
My brother in Colo. Springs took his 1 year old Rottweiler to an acupuncturist because the dog had difficulty walking. After the 1st treatment, improvement was noticed. By the end of the 2nd visit, the dog was walking normally.
I do agree Chi. Med. needs vocal leaders who can address misconceptions about the medicine.
Re: Acupuncture in mainstream media
Ben,
Did they happen to mention the acup.'s name in Back Bay?
Brightshen,
I had the same reaction with regard to the lack of a CM voice...instead this piece called on an acup. who's response to the 'placebo' accusation, was 'as long as my patients feel better, I don't care if it IS the placebo'. That's the best we can do?...
Re: Acupuncture in mainstream media
I saw a clip last night here in Boston on WBZ-TV.
At least they went down to Back Bay and film an acupuncturist treating a patient's back pain!
They didn't mention any specifics about this German study... they just said that this 'ancient' technique provides relief to those suffering with back pain. I guess they all are not biased.
Ben
Re: Acupuncture in mainstream media
My dad taped that piece on the news for me. Apparently I can just stick needles anywhere and get the same results. Why do I even bother studying Chinese Medicine anymore since the news tells me it's all the same and probably a placebo? We don't seem to have any leaders in our profession to point out the problems with those types of studies. Acupuncture is a procedure and a complicated one at that, it's not a drug that can be easily replaced with sugar. I'd like to see the double blind studies that confirm back, carpal tunnel and many other surgeries that bring people into our offices are effective. The piece actually will probably bring more patients to acupuncture, but it irritated me that our profession seemed to have no voice.
Re: Acupuncture in mainstream media
Jordan - CBS Nightly news ran a piece tonight based on the same study.
A typical acupuncture hit piece - thin on meaningful info, big on opinions of acup by Bio-Med providers and gaudy pics of needles sticking out of back and faces.
As more and more folks come to understand that network news is a decidedly biased source of information in general, hopefully features like this will also be taken with a grain of salt.
People who come to get acup treatment in Manchester do so because of recommendations by friends and family - period. These folks find value and relief from their experiences at clinic and happily tell others. I'm sure the same can be said for all of our practices. I like to keep this in mind when seeing prominent acup-related stories in print or video - positive or negative.