There is a lot of controversy about traditional eastern medicine in our western world. While majority of these practices have been around more than most European countries, and some even more, the scientific research on most of them is relatively recent. Consequently legislation and regulation on these practices are new and not at their best yet. The US started legislating such practices In the late 90s, but the biggest step in regulation came with the establishment of the Affordable Care Organisations enacted in 2012 after the Affordable Care Act. Despite that data shows these practices have been very popular in western countries long before that, and acupuncture has been one of the most popular among them. This leads to a number of problems. We cannot disregard them completely, there is a reason they have been around for so long nor can we accept they can do all that the practitioners claim they can. The question is to make out the good practices from those that do not help us, and to stay away from those that can harm us.
Scientific research shows great effect of acupuncture on treating many chronic pain syndromes and states. The studies show that it helps with pain from headaches (chronic or not), pain from arthritis, nausea and dental pain. While many studies argue that the effect is the same as that from placebo’s the positive effect is there-the question is if it is worth the hassle-financial and the time you spend getting skewered by the needles to do it.
While there is evidence about acupuncture helping in some conditions there are also a multitude of more dubious practices. In Spain a woman dies by ‘bee acupuncture’. Just as the name suggests the procedure involved bee venom injections or actual bees stinging the client. This practice gained infamy after a woman died from an allergic reaction from the bee stings. To be fair to the case this was not the client’s first procedure with the bee venom, so the allergic reaction was indeed a surprise. The danger from unconfirmed therapy measures does become apparent from this case though. A following report found that despite the lack of other cases with such severe results, the venom therapy and similar ones had a significant amount of adverse reaction. The National Centre for Biotechnology Information reviews 145 studies and finds that adverse reactions are indeed frequent-at 29%. Had that been the case for an accepted medical practice it would mean that the practitioner would be prepared for the adverse effects with both medicines and training to handle them.
The case of acupuncture related to fertility treatments is a different case. Initial scientific studies from the nineties showed that it could have beneficial effects while more recent studies show a much more mixed picture. There is no need for you to worry about it thought-the studies show either that it is has no effect (this is the prevalent result of the studies sadly), or that the effect is positive. There is no harm for you except for your finances. Which is not a small matter anyway. This means that when a fertility clinic offers such a side treatment be sceptical and ask why they offer it.
The case for acupuncture like most medical practices is that it can help in some cases and can harm in others. But unlike standard medical treatments, acupuncture and similar eastern practices, have an almost mythical aura around them. Many people are persuaded that they can help in cases that they have no place in helping. The lack of regulation, has caused many charlatan and dubious practitioners to exist together with those that can actually help us. So it is important to have both regulation and knowledge of what acupuncture can help us with. This will dispel not only the mythical aura around them is some people and the view in others that it is all a scam.
