Wonderful overlooked fact about Obamacare--it will curtail mandatory alternative medicine coverage!

[scubadude]

182. Thousands of years of practice do not necessarily add up to mysticism.

When acupuncture was developed, the scientific method did not exist, so in order to explain it's effectiveness explanations were created with thought modes common to the times. This "Mysticism" is simply an outmoded explanation of how acupuncture works, nothing more.

There is a big drive amongst scientists and drug companies right now searching for medicines from the native peoples of the world. Of course the natives use mystical terms to explain actions that they know occur but don't have "scientific proof" for, as you describe it.
Native Americans for instance knew that the bark from the Willow tree could cure headaches. They explained it in mystical terms, yet scientists now know that the bark of willow trees contains salicylic acid, commonly known as Aspirin.

You are damning all lore based medicine because they haven't been empirically studied. Perhaps the reason for the lack of studies for at least some of these treatment modalities is the lack of the ability for drug companies to cash in on them.

Think about it.

Scuba