Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community - View Single Post - Acupuncture- Real or B.S.

troutman · 03-30-2011, 02:12 PM

Will have a look, but Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine, is probably not considered a quality source.

Woo-woo (or just plain woo) refers to ideas considered irrational or based on extremely flimsy evidence or that appeal to mysterious occult forces or powers. [Skepdic]

Seems to be a lot of woo in that interview:

I studied acupuncture and found this endorphin story. Then there was this crazy homeopathy phenomenon. I studied it and the cells performed in a really amazing way when treated with high dilutions of chemicals. To me, these are wonderful clues with which to experiment. So I'm not out to discredit TCM or chi. I'm out to take TCM and find out how it works. So far, I've failed. But that doesn't mean that I hold the secrets of nature. Nature is far smarter than most of us.

http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/?p=4

So how can we decide which studies are credible? We now have published guidelines such as the 22 item Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT) checklist to assess the quality of randomized controlled trials, but Bausell offers some simpler criteria that can rule out the worst offenders:

Subjects are randomly assigned to a CAM therapy or a credible placebo
At least 50 subjects per group
Less than 25% dropout rate
Publication in a high-quality, prestigious, peer-reviewed journal

03-30-2011, 02:12 PM	#121
troutman Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Crowsnest Pass Exp:	Will have a look, but Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine, is probably not considered a quality source. Woo-woo (or just plain woo) refers to ideas considered irrational or based on extremely flimsy evidence or that appeal to mysterious occult forces or powers. [Skepdic] Seems to be a lot of woo in that interview: I studied acupuncture and found this endorphin story. Then there was this crazy homeopathy phenomenon. I studied it and the cells performed in a really amazing way when treated with high dilutions of chemicals. To me, these are wonderful clues with which to experiment. So I'm not out to discredit TCM or chi. I'm out to take TCM and find out how it works. So far, I've failed. But that doesn't mean that I hold the secrets of nature. Nature is far smarter than most of us. http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/?p=4 So how can we decide which studies are credible? We now have published guidelines such as the 22 item Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT) checklist to assess the quality of randomized controlled trials, but Bausell offers some simpler criteria that can rule out the worst offenders: Subjects are randomly assigned to a CAM therapy or a credible placebo At least 50 subjects per group Less than 25% dropout rate Publication in a high-quality, prestigious, peer-reviewed journal Last edited by troutman; 03-30-2011 at 02:54 PM.