Is it save for acupuncture?

Thank you Dr King and Sergiy

Your duscussion is really worthy of practicing acupuncture.
_________________
I love TCM

----------------------------------

sonus

Posted: Tue Jul 18, 2006 3:39 am

"Holding a needle can be compared as holding a tiger" is a saying in acupuncture circle in China.

It means carefulness and attention are required during acupuncture practice. For sure experience could reduce greatly the riskyness or dangerousness of doing acupuncture.

In general, practice of acupuncture is quite safe. The untoward effect or accidents caused by acupuncture are much less than those of medication, even Chinese herbal medication, so it's of its own advantage.

To take herbs, you must know very well the condition of the patient, making an accurate differential diagnosis of syndromes, otherwise, you may really aggravate the disease.
While to do acupuncture, you don't have to worry about it, you may not really help with your practice, but you can rarely harm the patient with your practice.

For quite sure, one must undergo a good training before the acupuncture practice!!!
As it is stated in one post in the forum that one Medical Doctor (of course western medicine) in Europe did over 50 needles in one foot of a patient, so that foot got paralyzed.

To do anything, there would be more or less risk, but if we know how to do it, we could avoid the risk or to minimize the chance of getting to the risk. Everybody knows it is risky to drive, but still so many would drive despite the riskiness. To do acupuncture, the riskiness is much less than driving.

--------------------------------

David King
Posted: Tue Jul 18, 2006 6:11 pm    

[quote:dd093f0b0c="David King"]Acupressure used to be a small part of the traditional Chinese therapeutic massage, but it's even more difficult to do it well than do acupuncture. The reason I compare it with salad is because majority of acupressure practitioners nowadays have not grasped the real essence of it. So, it's not a good meal, it's only a salad for most cases.[/quote:dd093f0b0c]

[i:dd093f0b0c]A new randomised controlled clinical trial on the effectiveness of acupressure[/i:dd093f0b0c].


[size=16:dd093f0b0c][b:dd093f0b0c]Treatment of low back pain by [u:dd093f0b0c]acupressure[/u:dd093f0b0c] and physical therapy: [u:dd093f0b0c]randomised controlled trial[/u:dd093f0b0c][/b:dd093f0b0c][/size:dd093f0b0c]
Lisa Li-Chen Hsieh, Chung-Hung Kuo, Liang Huei Lee, Amy Ming-Fang Yen, Kuo-Liong Chien and Tony Hsiu-Hsi Chen
[i:dd093f0b0c]British Medical Journal[/i:dd093f0b0c] 2006; 332; 696-700
FULL TEXT: http://bmj.com/cgi/content/full/332/7543/696

[size=14:dd093f0b0c][b:dd093f0b0c]Abstract[/b:dd093f0b0c][/size:dd093f0b0c]
[b:dd093f0b0c]Objective[/b:dd093f0b0c] To evaluate the effectiveness of [u:dd093f0b0c]acupressure[/u:dd093f0b0c] in terms of disability, pain scores, and functional status.
[b:dd093f0b0c]Design[/b:dd093f0b0c] Randomised controlled trial.
[b:dd093f0b0c]Setting[/b:dd093f0b0c] Orthopaedic clinic in Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
[b:dd093f0b0c]Participants[/b:dd093f0b0c] 129 patients with chronic low back pain.
[b:dd093f0b0c]Intervention[/b:dd093f0b0c] Acupressure or physical therapy for one month.
[b:dd093f0b0c]Main outcome measures[/b:dd093f0b0c] Self administered Chinese versions of standard outcome measures for low back pain (primary outcome: Roland and Morris disability questionnaire) at baseline, after treatment, and at six month follow-up.
[b:dd093f0b0c]Results[/b:dd093f0b0c] The mean total Roland and Morris disability questionnaire score after treatment was significantly lower in the acupressure group than in the physical therapy group regardless of the difference in absolute score ( - 3.8, 95% confidence interval - 5.7 to - 1.9) or mean change from the baseline ( - 4.64, - 6.39 to - 2.89). Acupressure conferred an 89% (95% confidence interval 61% to 97%) reduction in significant disability compared with physical therapy. The improvement in disability score in the acupressure group compared with the physical group remained at six month follow-up. Statistically significant differences also occurred between the two groups for all six domains of the core outcome, pain visual scale, and modified Oswestry disability questionnaire after treatment and at six month follow-up.
[b:dd093f0b0c]Discussion[/b:dd093f0b0c] This study shows that [u:dd093f0b0c]acupressure is more efficacious in alleviating low back pain than is physical therapy[/u:dd093f0b0c], as measured by pain visual analogue scale, core outcome measures, Roland and Morris disability questionnaire, and Oswestry disability questionnaire. The results support the conclusion of the previous randomised controlled clinical trial on low back pain treated by acupressure. [u:dd093f0b0c]Acupressure may thus be useful for reducing pain and improving body function and level of disability in low back pain[/u:dd093f0b0c].
[b:dd093f0b0c]Conclusions[/b:dd093f0b0c] [u:dd093f0b0c]Acupressure was effective in reducing low back pain in terms of disability, pain scores, and functional status[/u:dd093f0b0c]. The benefit was sustained for six months.

----------------------------------

Sergiy

Posted: Sun Jul 30, 2006 12:44 pm    

Yes, traditional Chinese therapeutic massage is often used alone to treat low back pain and satisfactory effect is often obtained.

So, if the acupressure is good enough, for this problem it should be well effective.

-----------------------

David King

Posted: Sun Jul 30, 2006 11:38 pm    

ABOUT ACUPRESSURE IN PAEDIATRICS

"It is often asked whether one can massage the points instead of doing acupuncture, and the answer is certainly [i:23e3148ca2]yes[/i:23e3148ca2]. For mild conditions, massage of the points is extremely effective. [i:23e3148ca2]For most of the conditions described in this book, however, massage is actually more painful than acupuncture[/i:23e3148ca2] . Frequently, the points are spontaneously tender, and for massage to be effective, at least two minutes should be spent on each point, for a total of ten to fifteen minutes per treatment. [i:23e3148ca2]For many Western children, holding still for this length of time is more of a penance than an acupuncture treatment[/i:23e3148ca2]".

[u:23e3148ca2]FROM[/u:23e3148ca2]: Lucy Lee, Ph.D. [i:23e3148ca2]Applying Traditional Chinese Medicine For Pediatrics - Advanced Study Course[/i:23e3148ca2] (a homestudy correspondence course approved by the California Acupuncture Board for 15 CE hours), [i:23e3148ca2]Dynasty School[/i:23e3148ca2] (CA).
The course is available for downloading free of charge from http://www.dynastyschool.com/pediatrics.pdf , but the exam is $149 ([i:23e3148ca2]for U.S. licensed practitioners only[/i:23e3148ca2]).

-----------------------------

Sergiy

Posted: Mon Jul 31, 2006 8:27 pm 

It's no strange sometimes massage is more painful than acupuncture!

[quote:f45eb37794][b:f45eb37794]Conclusions[/b:f45eb37794] Acupressure was effective in reducing low back pain in terms of disability, pain scores, and functional status. The benefit was sustained for six months.[/quote:f45eb37794]

This sounds too absolute!
Whether the benefit could be sustained for six months is quite dependent on the patients' condition and the therapeutists' manipulation!

Clinically, for some cases, the benefit could be even less than 6 days, or maybe less than two days!!!

------------------------------------

David King
Posted: Fri Aug 04, 2006 12:51 pm