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"Acupuncture
Endorsed By U.S. Health Panel" WASHINGTON
- A panel of scientists at the National Institutes of Health confirmed
something Wednesday the Chinese have known for thousands of years
and many Americans are discovering: Acupuncture can work. The
panel, which included doctors who practice acupuncture and some
scientists who were skeptical, agreed that acupuncture clearly works
to treat several conditions, including nausea and vomiting after
chemotherapy and surgery, the nausea of pregnancy, and post-operative
dental pain. The NIH panel also found "intriguing" but incomplete scientific data that acupuncture may also help stroke rehabilitation and relieve addictions, headaches, menstrual cramps, a variety of muscle pains, carpal tunnel syndrome and asthma. "This
is a pretty dramatic finding," said Dr. David Ramsey, president
of the University of Maryland Medical Center and an initial acupuncture
skeptic who chaired the NIH panel. "Acupuncture
has fewer side effects and is less invasive than many of the other
things we do in conventional Western medicine. It's time to take
it seriously." The
12-member group's decision will undoubtedly bring the ancient Chinese
art of sticking needles into specific points on the body into mainstream
Western medicine, Ramsey said. The
panel's "consensus statement" recommends integrating acupuncture
into standard medical practice, calls for further study into how
acupuncture works, and urges Medicare, Medicaid and private insurance
companies to begin paying for acupuncture treatments. Though the
recommendations aren't legally binding, they carry great influence
in the medical community. Acupuncture,
which has been used in China for about 2,500 years, is premised
on the notion that an energy or life force called qi (pronounced
"chee"), travels through the body along 14 different channels.
When qi is blocked, people get sick. Sticking needles at various
angles into points along the channels is thought to remove the blockage,
get qi flowing again and restore harmony between the opposing forces
of yin and yang in the body. Recent
studies have shown that acupuncture somehow taps into the body's
natural protective and pain-fighting system. Brain activity increases,
the immune system is boosted, and pain-fighting endorphins and peptides
are released during acupuncture, studies show. That's what convinced
the NIH panel. The
Food and Drug Administration estimates that in recent years, as
many as 12 million Americans have sought acupuncture treatments
from about 10,000 medical doctors or licensed acupuncture practitioners
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