Evaluating Two Opposing Views On Acupuncture

Kaori Sawada
Professor MacDonald
English 1C
March 15, 2015
Evaluating the Two Opposing Views on Acupuncture

Acupuncture is a 'pseudoscience ' and a treatment in alternative medicine in which sterilized needles penetrate the skin. It was developed in China more than 2,000 years ago and according to traditional Chinese medicine, "there are special 'meridian points ' on the body connected to the internal organs and that 'vital energy ' (qi) flows along the meridian lines" (Acupuncture). Stimulating these points with needles is said to help people feel better. Acupuncture is still considered complex because it 's not scientifically proven that it is effective. Also it only came to the US in the early 1970 's so there is not enough research
Based on the NIH 's official position, physicians may recommend acupuncture as a secondary treatment option. The WHO shows a list of diseases and conditions that "can be treated with acupuncture" (Acupuncture: Review and 23). Both organizations qualify their positions with words such as "may" and "can" and so opponents take this to mean acupuncture does not work. The National Council Against Health Fraud, a private non-profit, says acupuncture "has not been proven effective by modern standards" (NCAHF Position Paper). The medical journal Pain published an article saying there is "little truly convincing evidence that acupuncture is effective in reducing pain." (Acupuncture: Does it) If two authorities have different beliefs and are given the same ambiguous statement, they will come to different conclusions that lean toward their biases. Because acupuncture has no conclusive evidence it is considered a pseudoscience and the same research results are used as proof for both sides of the
They must penetrate the skin so having placebos in a trial is difficult. In one clinical trial written up in the Medical Acupuncture, the researchers evaluated the effect of acupuncture on 60 patients. They found no significant differences between the placebo and those using the needles. However, they also write that "the subjective evaluation on the effects of the treatment reported that patients felt significantly better after treatment" (A randomized, placebo-controlled). These conclusions lead to two different perceptions of the results. One is that acupuncture works because the patients felt better. The other is that acupuncture doesn 't work because there was no significant difference. In this way, most trials for acupuncture are