The Lunch Challenge: Acupuncture works, so who’s for humble pie?

There’s a fair bit of resistance in conventional medicine to the ‘energy medicines’, such as acupuncture.  One specialist once remarked:  “Show me the meridian points in the patient’s body and I’ll buy you lunch”.

After all, it assumes a completely different view of human biology, and therefore must be either completely wrong or the western view of biology is faulty or incomplete.  It has to be that black-and-white.

Unfortunately for the medical die-hard, a new study has found that acupuncture successfully treats low back pain, especially if given over a two-year period.  A small benefit was also seen within the first year of treatment.

It was tested on 241 adults who had suffered low back pain from an unspecified cause for up to a year, and who had not been helped by conventional medicine.

The research team, from Sheffield University, recommend that acupuncture be added to the therapies for low back pain that are available to the doctor.

So, where do you fancy lunch?


E-news broadcast 28 September 2006 No.296 [Subscribe]