The Acupuncture Evidence Project: A Comparative Literature Review (Summary)
J.McDonald & S.Jantz teamed up to investigate all high quality evidence based research across all conditions treatable with acupuncture to come up with a comprehensive article reviewing the effectiveness of acupuncture.
Their paper was published early this year (link at bottom for those interested in viewing the whole document)
In plain english -
"Bottom Line
Our study found evidence for the effectiveness of acupuncture for 117 conditions, with stronger evidence for acupuncture’s effectiveness for some conditions than others. Acupuncture is considered safe in the hands of a well-trained practitioner and has been found to be cost effective for some conditions. The quality and quantity of research into acupuncture’s effectiveness is increasing."
"The Australian Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine Association Ltd (AACMA) identified the need for an updated review of the evidence with greater rigour than was possible in the past and commissioned The Acupuncture Evidence Project.
We searched the literature with a focus on systematic reviews and meta analyses (the highest form of evidence available). We sorted the evidence to identify which conditions acupuncture has been found to be most effective for. We also looked for evidence of acupuncture’s safety and cost-effectiveness, and we reported how the evidence for acupuncture’s effectiveness has changed over an eleven-year time-frame."
"Key results
Strong evidence supported the effectiveness of acupuncture for 8 conditions, moderate evidence supported the use of acupuncture for a further 38 conditions."
"It is no longer possible to say that the effectiveness of acupuncture is because of the placebo effect, or that it is useful only for musculoskeletal pain."
The full document (81 pages) is available from Australian Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine Association Ltd. http://www.acupuncture.org.au.
Hey, can you explain the difference between acupuncture and dry needling?
I have a good friend who had a wasted away hamstring and swears that dry needling helped to get it working again.
PS - Add some pictures to your posts so they can grab the eye. It will help you get more exposure.
Thanks bugged out.
An Acupuncturist undertakes a 4 year degree and approximately 2000 hours of training.
A dry needling course is 70-100 hours and generally done by physios or chiros to complement their techniques. It provides them basics on local trigger point treatment of sore points with no particular focus or understanding of traditional acupuncture points and their actions. For musculoskeletal conditions dry needling can be effective as your friend attests to.
They call it dry needling as they can not hold themselves out to be acupuncturists.
Thanks for the tip about photos, I plan to add some in future when posting about treatments for specific conditions - eg - infertility, allergic rhinitis (hayfever), addictions and irregular menses to name a few.
Interesting, I didn't know acupuncturists studied for such an extensive time, nor had I heard of "dry needling". This article references documented evidence of extensive investigation into acupuncture without mentioning any specific outcomes, is it a teaser article? This certainly make a compelling basis for further consideration.
I'd like to see a series of summary articles exploring and explaining:
Reference/links to studies and publications like in this article would be great, thanks for the reading material.
Hi Neuromancer,
The Acupuncture Evidence Project was a review of 11 years worth of research trials with the aim of compiling their results to determine the efficacy of acupuncture for different ailments . To do this took 2 people close on a year.
The trials reviewed are all referenced in the 81 page document so specific outcomes from each trial can be looked up.
Over time I will do a series of acupuncture treatments for certain conditions backed with referencing to clinical trials and their results.
That's a lot of material to go through, I think it would help to try and work through smaller blocks at a time with a little guidance.
Are you stating how you practice at your clinic, or are you doing a series of articles in this manner? If the latter, I'm looking forward to it, should be very interesting.
Hi Neuromancer - they did this to look at the efficacy of acupuncture for across 122 conditions. Its aim was a broad look at what acupuncture can do well and to highlight any deficiencies in studies for certain conditions that better/further research is required.
I will do a series of articles, one per condition, with the latest results from clinic trials.
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