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In reply to the discussion: Top cancer hospitals across the country treat their patients' PAIN with "woo." [View all]etherealtruth
(22,165 posts)65. It is very important to differentiate the marketing information provided by health care centers ...
... and the actual research. Since I believe in caring for the "entire" person, I do not object to meeting the spiritual needs of patients while providing optimal science based medical care.
http://www.mayoclinicproceedings.org/article/PIIS0025619613005132/related?article_id=S0025-6196%2813%2900513-2
It is well known that acupuncture has pain-relieving effects, but the contribution of specific and especially nonspecific factors to acupuncture analgesia is less clear. One hundred one patients who developed pain of 3 on a visual analog scale (VAS, 0 to 10) after third molar surgery were randomized to receive active acupuncture, placebo acupuncture, or no treatment for 30min with acupuncture needles with potential for double-blinding. Patients perception of the treatment (active or placebo) and expected pain levels (VAS) were assessed before and halfway through the treatment. Looking at actual treatment allocation, there was no specific effect of active acupuncture (P=.240), but there was a large and significant nonspecific effect of placebo acupuncture (P<.001), which increased over time. Interestingly, however, looking at perceived treatment allocation, there was a significant effect of acupuncture (P<.001), indicating that patients who believed they received active acupuncture had significantly lower pain levels than those who believed they received placebo acupuncture. Expected pain levels accounted for significant and progressively larger amounts of the variance in pain ratings after both active and placebo acupuncture (up to 69.8%). This is the first study to show that under optimized blinding conditions, nonspecific factors such as patients perception of and expectations toward treatment are central to the efficacy of acupuncture analgesia and that these factors may contribute to self-reinforcing effects in acupuncture treatment. To obtain an effect of acupuncture in clinical practice, it may therefore be important to incorporate and optimize these factors.
http://www.painjournalonline.com/article/S0304-3959%2813%2900231-5/abstract
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Top cancer hospitals across the country treat their patients' PAIN with "woo." [View all]
pnwmom
Apr 2014
OP
You know what else is really common, and generally accepted without mocking? Prayer.
Electric Monk
Apr 2014
#1
If some cancer hospitals are treating patients' pain with prayer, I didn't run into any.
pnwmom
Apr 2014
#2
When my mom had cancer, she had many friends who said they were praying for her recovery.
Electric Monk
Apr 2014
#4
that study was so poorly designed and so poorly executed, NO ONE should reference it.
KittyWampus
Apr 2014
#19
I can't stand it, between that and other childish words thrown around here of late
Dragonfli
Apr 2014
#70
My step-mother was once prescribed decaf coffee enemas for relief from hives
OriginalGeek
Apr 2014
#85
Yes, it is not woo/psuedoscience. That is wonderful for your father!
Tuesday Afternoon
Apr 2014
#124
I think things like acupuncture have a hypnotic component that truly does help pain.
mucifer
Apr 2014
#8
Acupuncture as such is not 'woo'; there is some evidence that it can relieve pain and other symptoms
LeftishBrit
Apr 2014
#12
It's a business. Cheap perks that give you a leg up over the competition are smart.
LeftyMom
Apr 2014
#13
The National Institutes of Health doesn't fund studies of hospital valet parking. n/t
pnwmom
Apr 2014
#31
As the OP points out, many actual physicians disagree with your great wisdom
Bluenorthwest
Apr 2014
#35
A commenter on another board, with a related thread asks the pertinent question...
SidDithers
Apr 2014
#36
Pnwmom, I have to disagree with you as I have been treated with acupunture AS PART
Ecumenist
Apr 2014
#40
Oh okay, I am so sorry. I read it but not completely. I shouldn't have assumed that
Ecumenist
Apr 2014
#46
OH BULLSHIT. Only talk about what you know. Just because she went to someone who
Ecumenist
Apr 2014
#69
IT WORKS, Curmodgeness. I am a recipeint of this "cray-cray". IT IS NOT CRAZY
Ecumenist
Apr 2014
#47
NIH funded study: Acupuncture for Chronic Pain / Individual Patient Data Meta-analysis
magical thyme
Apr 2014
#55
We use acupuncture with great effects on the horses. Animals can't manufacture a placebo response
riderinthestorm
Apr 2014
#91
From what I remember the only problem with the studies is that you can't double blind
Recursion
Apr 2014
#81
It is very important to differentiate the marketing information provided by health care centers ...
etherealtruth
Apr 2014
#65
What does that have to do with acupuncture, which is what the thread is about? nt
Electric Monk
Apr 2014
#94
In other words, they let patients indulge in generally harmless placebos of their own choice...
Silent3
Apr 2014
#109
Sure, because we give the DEA 60 billion a year to bully doctors into under-treating pain.
Warren DeMontague
Apr 2014
#118
Top cancer hospitals across the country relieve their patients' of money with "woo."
MattBaggins
Apr 2014
#120