– does sophisticated MRI data point us to optimal treatment? For some time, a group on the US east coast have been quietly scanning brains with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and related techniques to examine the effects of acupuncture. They hit the headlines in rather a dramatic manner in 2017.[1,2] At the beginning of […]
The Acupuncture Trialists’ Collaboration IPDM update 2017
– more data, new insights… In 2012, the first individual patient data meta-analysis (IPDM) in the field of acupuncture was published.[1] It was also one of the first in the field of pain research. It was a struggle to publish, principally (I guess) because the IPDM method was relatively new to journal editors, and because […]
EA for stress urinary incontinence
– perhaps via direct pudendal nerve stimulation Earlier in 2017 this paper popped up in JAMA.[1] It was from the same group that had published a huge multicentre trial of electroacupuncture (EA) for chronic severe functional constipation,[2] which was featured in a previous blog. This was a large sham controlled trial (n=504) although not as […]
EA for chronic severe functional constipation
– it seems to work after an intensive course… About a year ago I was surprised to see a sham controlled RCT of electroacupuncture (EA) published in Annals of Internal Medicine.[1] I was surprised for several reasons: I review for Annals, and I had not seen the paper for review; it was on chronic severe […]
Segmental EA falls short in ovulation induction
…in women with polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) Finally I have come to address this topic, some months following publication of an eagerly awaited (at least by me) large clinical trial.[1] I have been a colleague and friend of the second author (ES-V) since proofreading her PhD thesis over 20 years ago. In those days I […]
Burning nerves with needles in back pain – stop the burning, just use the needles!
This piece has also been stimulated by a publication in JAMA, this time evaluating the use of denervation of joints in spinal pain.[1] It is a set of three large (n=251, n=228, n=202), probably definitive, pragmatic trials that evaluate the use of radiofrequency denervation (RFD) as an addition to a 3 month standardised exercise […]
Why not needles for OA – no steroid, just the needles!
This piece has been stimulated by a recent publication in JAMA evaluating the use of regular intra-articular corticosteroid injections for symptom management and cartilage volume in osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee.[1] Previous research had suggested that the inflammatory process in the knee was associated with both pain and progression of cartilage loss, however, this […]
TENS and acupuncture appear cost-effective in knee osteoarthritis
Figure 3 from Woods B et al PLoS One 2017[1] This figure may seem familiar to some who follow big data in the acupuncture field. It comes from another big project at the Centre for Health Economics, University of York.[1] It is effectively a repeat of their first large network meta-analysis (NMA) that included acupuncture […]
Precision needling in myofascial pain
Inspired by Wang et al Acupunct Med 2017[1] Image taken from Cummings M Acupunct Med 2009.[2] I got interested in swapping my hypodermic needles for filiform ones some 25 years ago, and was encouraged by my early success treating myofascial pain in a military population.[3] I became more and more expert at identifying these […]
Acupuncture for infantile colic – misdirection in the media or over-reaction from a sceptic blogger?
So there has been a big response to this paper press released by BMJ on behalf of the journal Acupuncture in Medicine. The response has been influenced by the usual characters – retired professors who are professional bloggers and vocal critics of anything in the realm of complementary medicine. They thrive on flexing their EBM […]