Medical Joke

What is sham acupuncture? It is an acupuncture treatment that does not stimulate known acupuncture points.

What is real acupuncture? In this new acupuncture study published in a real medical journal:
A randomized trial comparing acupuncture, simulated acupuncture, and usual care for chronic low back pain [Archives of Internal Medicine, 2009 May 11];
simulated acupuncture using toothpicks that did not penetrate the skin was just as effective as real acupuncture.

Simulated acupuncture could be considered to be sham needling but it is not sham acupuncture. Time.com is a little confused about this in Acupuncture for Bad Backs: Even Sham Therapy Works. But at least they included an image of a half naked Asian woman in their story.

Acupuncture Side Effect?

An advertisement fo Centraal Beheer insurance.

Hilarious commercial created by DDB Amsterdam for Centraal Beheer Achmea.

Do you believe acupuncture is more effective than a placebo?

Don’t fall for it… unless you’re insurance covers it.

Is the ancient art of acupuncture on the newfangled Internet? Do acupuncturists own computers so they can read the scientific literature on acupuncture?

A trial design that generates only ”positive” results [J Postgrad Med. 2008 Jul-Sep]

The reason for the inability of the ‘A + B versus B’ design to generate negative results (under the above-stated three conditions) seems obvious: even in the absence of any specific therapeutic effect, the results of such studies would be positive due to nonspecific effects such as a placebo-effect, the additional care given to patients, the therapist-patient relationship or social desirability.

Hidden camera acupuncture treatment – Do you have a website?

A treatment for obesity? I don’t think she is obese!

Related Post:
Sham Acupuncture

Related Link:
Acupuncture Matrix