Inspired by Witt et al Clin J Pain 2019.[1] Photo by MC, taken at Kew Gardens Temperate House. This paper is clearly important to consider, despite the limited conclusion of the abstract, since it comes from the ATC (Acupuncture Trialists Collaboration) and involves further analysis of the largest dataset available in the field of acupuncture … Continue reading Do patient characteristics affect acupuncture treatment outcomes?
Inspired by Molassiotis et al Integr Cancer Ther 2019.[1] Chemotherapy-Induced Peripheral NeuropathyCIPN Photo by Alexander Krivitskiy on Unsplash. This is the first fully powered RCT of acupuncture in CIPN This is the first fully powered RCT of acupuncture in CIPN (chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy). Alex Molassiotis is an academic from a nursing background who worked at … Continue reading CIPN 2019
Inspired by Chang et al Front Neurosci 2019.[1] Photo by Clint Adair on Unsplash. This paper was published on 20th February 2019, but it did not appear on my PubMed search until last week. The title gives away the story: Peripheral Sensory Nerve Tissue but Not Connective Tissue Is Involved in the Action of Acupuncture.Chang … Continue reading Does connective tissue have any role in the acupuncture effect?
Inspired by Mak et al J Gastroenterol Hepatol 2019.[1] Photo by Mike on Unsplash.Taken from the Sky Tower in Auckland in 2011.Standing on a glass floor at this height generates a degree of anxiety! This paper caught my eye because the title seems to pronounce a definitive negative result to a useful question concerning the … Continue reading Does EA fail in GAD and IBS?
Inspired by Chen et al J Affect Disord 2019.[1] Photo by Milada Vigerova on Unsplash. The massive Taiwanese National Health Database strikes again! This time it was used to find new cases of depression between 1997 and 2010. The team found just over 55k cases. Of these, 13 823 received acupuncture treatment, and they were … Continue reading Depression stroke risk and acupuncture
Inspired by Wang et al Chest 2018.[1] Photo by David Yanutama on Unsplash. I am a bit slow to comment on this paper that was published nearly a year ago. This morning a colleague from Madrid asked my opinion on an earnest letter dismissing the research.[2] I had a quick look over both and thought the original … Continue reading Acupuncture non-inferior to NRT
Inspired by Lund et al BMJ Open 2019.[1] Photo by Ryan Moreno on Unsplash- representing waking up soaking wet as some of my patients describe... This paper hit the ground running, so to speak. I guess it must have been press released by BMJ, because it ended up on the BBC News website late on Saturday 9th March … Continue reading Hot flushes 2019
Inspired by Llamas Fuentes et al Med Clin (Barc) 2019.[1] Image from an old version of Adam Interactive anatomy. We have another case report of a serious adverse event following acupuncture. This time cardiac damage from needling in the area of the sternum. But my title refers more to my disappointment at the entire lack … Continue reading Heartbreak
Inspired by Shih C-C et al QJM 2019.[1] Immortal Bridge, Mount Tai, ChinaPhoto by https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:PfctdayeliseSky edit by MC – sky from sunset over South Island New Zealand This paper struck me as interesting because of its size, its overlap with previous topics on the blog (VCIND, CHD in RA), but most of all because it … Continue reading Immortal time bias
Inspired by Siqueira et al 2018.[1] A shot from the Ealing half marathon 2018 at around the 9 mile point - my arms were aching after taking over 2k of photos through a heavy zoom lens whilst waiting for my boy (5448) to come past 😀 This paper popped up on PubCrawler this morning. I’m … Continue reading Needling runners’ knees
