(Naperville Acupuncture)
Over the past several decades, Chinese Medicine has been steadily growing in the US as a much sought after system of health care. It’s been met with much resistence by conventional medicine, I believe mostly because it is a very different approach when Western methods of measuring efficacy don’t yield clear results. The reason is that Chinese Medicine is truly based on a very different set of principles, but that does not make it ineffective. The proof is in all the patients who’ve been helped over the past many centuries through today.
So you want evidence That it works?
Professionals in the field of Chinese Medicine and other professionals that champion this medicine are working to gather scientific research, as well as empirical evidence of it’s efficacy. One such document came out last year in 2017 summarizing a review of scientific literature on acupuncture from 2010-2016. Some of what was reviewed was gathered by both the Australian and the US Departments of Veterans Affairs. Here is the link so you can read it yourself. Below I will list some of the highlights and take aways.
"It is no longer possible to say that the effectiveness of acupuncture can be attributed to the placebo effect or that it is useful only for musculoskeletal pain." -Stephen Janz MPH, Project Director, The AACMA Acupuncture Evidence Project
Good News – Acupuncture Works!
Ok, we already knew that, but plenty of scientific research supports it too. The literature review revealed 8 conditions for which acupuncture is definitely beneficial. The evidence is clear that acupuncture has a positive effect for:
Low Back Pain
Migraine Prophylaxis
Allergic Rhinitis
Knee Osteoarthritis
Chronic and Tension Headaches
Chemotherapy Induced nausea and vomiting
Post-Operative Pain
Post-Operative nausea and vomiting
My Take:
Take a close look at the first 5 conditions listed above. These are HUGE. DId you know low back pain is the #1 cause of disability? Do you know people with migraines, allergies, knee pain, or headaches? Is that not almost everyone?! But where are these sufferers going for relief? What are they doing? Well I know that many of them are just living with their pain and discomfort. Some get some relief temporarily from NSAIDs or other drugs. But almost none are successfully managed by conventional medicine. And here is clear support that acupuncture is the best solution out there. Period. My goal is to get this therapy to more people who need it.
More Good News! Acupuncture helps even More Conditions than that!
I won’t list them all here, but for another 38 conditions there was found evidence of acupuncture’s effectiveness in treating. You can read all 38 in Table 2 on page 2 of the report, but here’s a few that caught my attention since I often treat them successfully:
Anxiety
Constipation
Depression
Insomnia
IBS
Menopausal hot flashes (aka hot flushes)
My Take:
The short list I extracted from Table 2 showing conditions for which there’s “moderate evidence supporting the effectiveness of acupuncture” is also so inclusionary that I’m confident in saying that our country’s health care situation would be REVOLUTIONIZED by covering acupuncture with insurance benefits. It really gets the scientist in me excited to see the scientific evience mounting, even though the Chinese Medicine practitioner in me doesn’t care about scientific research because of the overwhelming clinical evidence. But nevertheless, it’s nice to get the validation from the other side of the aisle so to speak.
Conclusion: Acupuncture is a viable alternative to drugs and surgery
If you or someone you know is ready to get drug-free and surgery-free relief, please give me a call or click here to schedule an appointment. I can answer any other questions and get you on your way to feeling healthier!
