News that the NHS will offer acupuncture to back pain sufferers has delighted some. For a start, as the Guardian reports, the condition costs the UK over £5.1bn annually and leads to 5m lost working days. It affects, we are told, “one in three adults each year and leads to 2.6 million people visiting their GP”.
So it appears the NHS is attempting to cut costs. To be fair, this will be achieved: although the acupuncture services will cost the taxpayer £24.4m, money will be saved as the NHS plans to stop the dodgy practice of injecting therapeutic substances into the lower back which, doctors were saying as early as 1991, is not effective against persistent back pain.
But is government-endorsed acupuncture really a good idea? Here are three reasons why I think acupuncture on the NHS sets a dangerous precedent.
1. Acupuncture’s effectiveness is highly disputed.
A study earlier this year, reported by Counterknowledge.com and the BMJ, concluded: “Whether needling at acupuncture points, or at any site, reduces pain independently of the psychological impact of the treatment ritual is unclear.” In other words, scientists do not know whether acupuncture works like a placebo, or if it has a real biological effect. The study also stated that effect of acupuncture on pain relief is so small that it “seems to lack clinical relevance and cannot be clearly distinguished from bias”.
2. If we allow placebos on the NHS, it opens the door to other alternative medicines.
There are plenty of alternative medicines out there which, users claim, reduce pain and help treat various conditions - just take a look at Counterknowledge.com’s archives. That they have not been successful in clinical tests - that they work only on a psychological level - is what keeps them out of our hospitals. If we are going to have acupuncture, then why not have, say, traditional Tibetan medicine? Lion claw soup, anyone?
3. If the government endorses acupuncture, it will only encourage people to turn to quackery outside the NHS.
As the Telegraph reported when the NHS acupuncture announcement was first made, provision for back pain will be “very variable”. One GP - Dr Martin Underwood - said that “very few” areas in the UK will be able to give the full recommended treatment for persistent (read chronic) back pain. So what do we get? That’s right: a middle-aged man writhing from back pain tries to get the new government-endorsed acupuncture on the NHS; he is told it is not available in his area. As a result, he goes to Mr Wang, a cheap practitioner is his local area family, naturally, have practised acupuncture for centuries. He’ll get the full works - all to restore his ‘Qi’. And guess what? It’ll be a waste of cash and could even worsen his condition.
But fear not: at least the NHS will have saved their money.
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13 responses
I thought the guidance excluded chronic back pain? A minor detail, I know…
The BBC article mentions a choice of 3 complementary therapies. If it was down to excercise or acupuncture, I wonder what most people will go for?
Surely the implication that it is a placebo would make the NHS think twice? Unless they are happily promoting bogus treatments these days (ahem)
Re the Beacon. You are right, the guidance doesn’t mention ‘chronic’ back pain (so I’ve amended the above article), but it does talk about ‘persistent back pain’.
I wonder how many of the sceptics have actually tried acupuncture from a reputable practitioner.
Having tried acupuncture as a last resort for back pain, for which the NHS could only advise radical surgery, I found it to be both effective and lasting in its effects.
If that were down to a placebo effect, then I’d imagine that the anti-inflammatories and painkillers previously prescribed by my doctor - and which I fully expected to resolve the problem - would have worked just as well. They didn’t.
As for proven efficacy - if those of us who have tried acupuncture and found it to work are to be written off as deluded beneficiaries of a placebo effect, then trty the copious body of research available on the World Health Organisation website.
It works, and has been proven to work, when administered by well-trained professionals, as licensed by the British Acupuncture Council.
Did you know that 95% of percentages used in 95% of “studies, reports, investigations@ or whatever this Will Heaven has claimed to have conducted, are figures pulled out of the air.
What are you an expert on Mr Heaven? apart from radical spin journalism see following quote (reported by Counterknowledge.com and the BMJ”Whether needling at acupuncture points, or at any site, reduces pain independently of the psychological impact of the treatment ritual is unclear.” In other words, scientists do not know whether acupuncture works like a placebo, or if it has a real biological effect. I ask why are you spinning acupuncture in this way. Do you perhaps have any connections to the Drug industry which is squirming due to the fact that Drug free remedies are increasing in popularity? If this is your main job then well done. i’d love to sit at a pc all typing rubbish and making it sound official with the usual newspaper dribble, The Catchy headline, All the bullet points kept negative to hit home the message, the odd figure to make it sound official and a sceptical negative anecdotial conclusion. Its a rubbish article but whats more worrying is that people may read it as fact and tell others it as fact. i’ll be keeing my eye out for your articles.
As you all know acupuncture has been around of thousands of years, if there were nothing to it don’t you think it would have gone away by now? You cannot deny the undeniable benefits of natural forms of healthcare.
That acupuncture is effective in blocking out pain is beyond dispute. People have surgery with acupuncture alone. The real issue is not whether acupuncture is effective in blocking pain but whether the relief is persistent.
Acupuncture does work i should know i have ankylosing spondylitis and have ONLY become pain free because of Acupuncture, i now only need a few repeat treatments when the pain comes back and the pain that does come back is minimal compared to the pain i used to get.
I would have loved Acupuncture to be on the NHS instead of paying out a small fortune, Acupuncture does help allot of ailments as well as back pain.
You Mr Heaven have no idea i presume of what it is like to have your whole body in pain, so much so you can`t get out of bed by yourself because your spine muscles have weakened and be in constant pain everyday and then oneday i visited an acupuncturist after my mam got cured of sciatica through Acupuncture and after allot of treatment i am ALLOT better and more often than not either pain free or nearly pain free, all because of Acupuncture.
Paul, I think the last one locked the doors and shut off the lights a couple of months ago.
All thats left here is tumbleweed and and an exchange of invective over the holocaust and zionism.
I assume the site staff have all moved on.
Acupuncture works, and it has done so for hundred of years. It also saved me from spending the rest of my life in a wheelchair. Could have gone for a expensive and ridiculously dangerous operation I guess….
Acupuncture has been known in China for ages, my mom introduced me to acupunture and i am since been amazed how it can reduce my migraine.
What a joke. Acupuncture works, it has for thousands of years. It saved me when I had major back issues, when NHS simply send me home with painkillers usually given to heroin addicts. And that was it.
To dare stating that its beneficial effects are unclear or that this a placebo is state of the art smug ignorance.
LLLLLLLLLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL
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