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Originally Posted by droid  Yes but surely the evidence of it being accurate from a diagnostic sense,then the treatment speaks for its self.TCM has evolved to what it is now,acupuncture is available on the NHS.My physio uses it to stimulate blood flow.I get what you are saying,but it has worked for me and my wife so i can only comment from a personal point of view. |
I think the important thing is that every treatment (alternative or not) is properly evaluated for how effective it is, otherwise anyone could claim anything and no-one would be able to refute it.
The availability of acupuncture on the NHS is limited to specific treatments and is part based on successful political lobbying (hello, Prince Charles), part based on the available data suggesting it may be more effective than simply doing nothing. The jury is still out whether acupuncture works as claimed, or is just a special version of the placebo effect: In either case, doing something is better than doing nothing, but the latter calls in to question the method by which acupuncture supposedly works. One argument would be that as long as it's better doing something rather than nothing, then it doesn't matter if acupuncture works due to meridians and qi flow or if it works as nothing but a placebo. A counter-argument to this would be that if acupuncture is just a placebo, then it is not a treatment with any efficacy and to claim it is would be deceitful.