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Traditional Chinese Medicine Western Medicine
Conventional herbal medicine
Traditional Chinese Medicine Western Medicine
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Arthritis, muscle pain, low back pain, swelling or weakness- if you suffer under one on these conditions, doctors might recommend a treatment that you might not be familiar with- acupuncture.The ancient treatment used in China thousands of years ago involves thin, metal needles being placed in the patient’s skin. The human body is described as a composition of yin and yang, two fluids that balance each other out and are responsible for the body’s mental and physical health.If yin isn’t able to flow anymore, the human body is said to be imbalanced, mental and physical disease occur as a result. The Acupuncture needles are now supposed to help unblock the flow of yin and cure the conditions by connecting with special points selected from lines …show more content…
All things found in the universe are thought of as a balance of the two opposite but complementary forces yin and yang. Organs in our body can be predominantly yin or yang but the body still manages to maintain the overall balance because of the total sum of yin and yang in the body. Traditional Chinese medicine states that diseases are caused by an imbalance of yin and yang. When trying to restore the balance and the person’s health, practitioners look for the nature of the imbalance and use acupuncture as a method to correct the imbalance.“However, despite more than 3,0000 studies into acupuncture since the 1970s, there is no evidence that any force qi ( yin and yang) exists or that it flows along invisible energy lines.” ( “Why acupuncture is giving sceptists the needle”, David Derbyshire)Therefore the whole system acupuncture is based on can’t be reliable.
Another concern about acupuncture is the so-called Placebo effect.
If a person is being treated special or believes in the benefit of a treatment, the treatment is more likely to be beneficial. “The more a person expects a treatment to work, the more likely they are to exhibit a placebo response.” ( “What is the Placebo effect”) So people can even experience a benefit from the administration of an inactive substance or sham
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The results of these actions can be relieved pain. “A National Institutes of Health trial has found that acupuncture decreases pain associated with osteoarthritis of the knee, when combined with standard medical treatment” (“Acupuncture”). While these results show that some of the pain can be relieved, other studies reveal that the received advantages are nearly nonexistent. Disease therefore cannot be cured. “The benefits of acupuncture are likely nonexistent, or at best are too small to be of any clinical significance.” ( “Why acupuncture is giving sceptists the needle”, David Debyshire) This is a statement made by pharmacologist David Colquhoun and neurologist Steven
Ernst, E., & Resch, K. L. (1995). Concept of true and perceived placebo effects. British Medical
...this alternative medicine in reinforcing the legitimacy of their work is that there are even discrepancies between them on exactly how to achieve the desired results. “One of the many methodological problems with auricular acupuncture is that there are so many maps of the ear and little agreement exists regarding point location, lacking definite anatomic stud on the ear skin and its somatotopic correspondences” (Gori 16). In order for this alternative method of treatment to become more mainstream and accepted as legitimate, more conclusive evidence and more consistent results across multiple studies, and more consistent application of the acupuncture itself must be achieved. Until that point, auricular acupuncture will continue to help persons who have experienced its benefits, but it will not receive the attention that a more proven treatment would by the masses.
The aim of acupuncture to heal explicit pathologies has not been determined but it does reestablish systemic equilibrium to the patient’s reservation of Qi. For the body’s system to be recalibrated with its Qi, needles are implanted at certain meridians in order to
A placebo is a medicine or other kind of treatment that seems therapeutic, but in reality is inert and pharmacological inactive (2). The placebo effect is "a change in a patient's illness attributable to the symbolic import of a treatment rather than a specific pharmacologic or physiologic property" (3). Note that a placebo is not even necessary to result in a placebo effect.
Acupuncture is believed to be highly effective. In a nation-wide survey of acupuncture users, conducted by Dr. Claire M. Cassidy, 91.5% reported "disappearance" or "improvement" of symptoms after their treatment, 84% see their MDs less often, 79% use fewer prescription drugs, and 70% were able to avoid previously recommended surgery (http://www.acupuncture.com/Acup/AcuStats.htm). Said one man from San Francisco:
To help humanity better its health and to better understand the placebo effect. If over the counter medicine performs better than the placebo, then it won’t be allowed to enter the market. Scientist should follow the key points to achieve a positive effect of the placebo effect. There are many limits to the placebo effect but to better humanity’s understanding on the placebo effect there should be more research and studies on the placebo effect in accordance to modern medicine, it will be every beneficial for society in the long
Acupuncture treatment for arthritis has proved to be effective in reducing the inflammation and pain resulting from this condition. Acupuncture has been practiced for a long duration in traditional Chinese medicine. Acupuncture serves as an alternative to arthritis medication. Acupuncture not only provides relief from joint pain but also proves beneficial for other diseases.
Acupuncture is a very efficient method to cure several diseases. The Cambridge Illustrated History (1996.p.302) summarized that acupuncture can help both physical symptoms and mental conditions. On the one hand physical symptoms (such as headache, sprains, strokes etc) can easily be cured thanks to acupuncture. On the other hand we find that mental condition can be curried by the previous method. Brigham (2000) argued "conditions that are said to benefit from these treatments include the effects of daily stress, headaches, neck and shoulder pain, aches and pains, allergies, menstrual etc,"(p.
Acupuncture is an ancient Chinese method of "encouraging the body to promote natural healing and improve bodily function" (1) that dates back as far as 4,700 years ago. Now for the past 25 years it has appeared in the U.S. as a popular form of alternative medicine, and it is "a licensed and regulated HealthCare profession in about half the states in the U.S." (3). It is most often called upon for problems such as lower back pain, migraines, arthritis, and additional non-fatal aches and pains. Some people say it works, others are still skeptical. Since this method does not seem to be based on "actual science", is it merely a placebo effect? Can a medical practice dated nearly five millenniums ago still prove to be valid?
Placebos are a form of treatment that is typically prescribed by medical professionals to benefit an individual’s psychological or physiological state. The placebo is a sugar-based pill that has no active ingredient, also known as a dummy pill. A Professor named Marcello Costa stated that “the substance may have a therapeutic effect on a person when in a doctor’s office or a professional in the medical field”. Placebos are also used as a control variable when testing new medicine in clinical trials. This is to help scientists evaluate whether the new drug produced is safe for a person to consume whilst ensuring it will work effectively and efficiently. A placebo is given to a person
There are situations in which a seemingly unethical practice can be altered and used equitably. A pure placebo is an inert substance that can cause a real physiological effect. Impure placebos are unrelated and have active quantities, but non-related to the symptoms that need treating. Pure, and impure placebos can cause the placebo effect, which physicians can use to their advantage as long as there is no deception involved. Most important physician’s should never lie to a patient, or cause a nocebo effect by being negative. A physician can tell their patients about the placebo effect, and provide a supportive wholesome environment for their patients. If physicians do this they are following the current laws, and creating a open physician-patient relationship which allows for the most beneficial medical treatment for patients.
Dr. Brown, who is a psychologist at Brown University, decided to do a study on the effects of a placebo. A placebo is any treatment or drug with no medicinal value that is given to a patient to relieve symptoms of an ailment. His hypothesis in the article focused on if the placebos had any effect on the patients who took them.
The placebo effect according to Shapiro, is ‘The nonspecific psychological or physiological therapeutic effect produced by a placebo or the effect of spontaneous improvement attributed to the placebo treatment’ (Shapiro, 1968, cited in Harrington, 1997)
The Chinese healing art of acupuncture is one that can be dated back at least two thousand years. Some authorities maintain that acupuncture has been practiced in China for even four thousand years. Though its exact age is vague, what is certain is that up until the recent twentieth century, much of the population of the world was uninformed about acupuncture, its origins, and its capacity to promote and maintain good health. Even today in relatively "advanced" nations such as the United States there are many who hold acupuncture under the stereotype of a new or radical medicine, one which would almost always be a second choice after more familiar Western approaches to handling illness.
Legitimacy and justifying placebo use in clinical trials. Employing placebo in clinical trials can improve the quality of the study results. Firstly, a placebo group employment enables to evaluate efficacy of blind, randomised subject control medical treatment avoiding assessment bias. Secondly, it can be reduce the number of patients to conduct since outcomes in different states, these are treatment group and placebo group can be compared which makes the difference clearer whether the results are beneficial or harmful. Thirdly, placebo can be used in addition to normal treatment of patients, where results will show genuine results as beneficial or harmful conditional change....