Stimulated by my first full year of weekly blogs ending on Christmas day, as well as He et al 2019.[1] Photo by Oziel Gómes on Unsplash. I set myself a target at the beginning of the year to write a weekly blog, each centred around a recent acupuncture-related research paper. With this one it looks as though I … Continue reading High on festivities 2019
Stimulated by Koh et al 2019.[1] Photo by Alexander on Unsplash. I have been sitting on this paper for a week or so whilst trying to engage comments from obstetrician colleagues. Well they are all too busy catching babies, so I will be going for this blind… (the relevance of this comment may become clearer … Continue reading CAM and labour induction
Stimulated by Garcia et al 2019.[1] Photo by Wolfgang Hasselmann on Unsplash. This is rather a unique and striking study, published this week in an open access JAMA journal. It is the first large (n=399) three arm clinical trial in RIX (Radiotherapy-Induced Xerostomia), the first trial that performed the acupuncture from the start of radiotherapy, and the first … Continue reading RIX sham and cultural differences
Stimulated by Affaitati et al 2019.[1] Photo by Aiony Haust on Unsplash. This paper popped up on a very recent search, but not because it mentions acupuncture, in fact it doesn’t. I also search every day for the latest research in myofascial pain. I had a look at this one because of the last author … Continue reading Co-occurrence of pain syndromes
Stimulated by Hassan et al 2019.[1] Photo by Alexandru G Stavrică on Unsplash.Woman in a field of poppies... another plant-based former-alternative medicine 😉 This is a systematic review that asks the question: Does integrative medicine (IM) reduce prescribed opioid use for chronic pain? Obviously, I needed to look, having recently highlighted a similar topic on … Continue reading Opioids and IM
Stimulated by recent letters in Acupuncture in Medicine.[1–4] Artist is Elihu Vedder (1836–1923). Photographed in 2007 by Carol M. Highsmith (1946–).Minerva is the Roman goddess of poetry, medicine, wisdom, strategic warfare, commerce weaving and the crafts. Her Greek equivalent is Athena... In the last week or so we have published several letters online, and they … Continue reading Mike’s minerva 1
Stimulated by Nakahara et al 2019.[1] Photo by Crystal Kwok on Unsplash. The suggestion of point specific effects always ruffles my metaphorical feathers. The suggestion of point specific effects always ruffles my metaphorical feathers. I had to come to terms with the use of the term when editing a chapter in the big textbook on … Continue reading Point specific effects on BP?
Stimulated by Dimitrova et al 2019 & Zheng et al 2019.[1,2] Photo by Aliona Gumeniuk on Unsplash. I first came across the acronym QST some years ago in one of the big national or international pain conferences where there are always numerous companies exhibiting extraordinarily expensive pieces of kit. QST devices appeared to be just … Continue reading Sensory testing again
Stimulated by Lee et al 2019 & Wei et al 2019.[1,2] Photo by Brad Lloyd on Unsplash. Back pain was a regular topic on this blog at its inception in March 2016 – around the time that the draft of NG59 was published. NG59 is the current NICE guideline for back pain and sciatica, although … Continue reading Phantom acupuncture for back pain
Stimulated by Lee et al 2019.[1] Photo by Anton Nikolov on Unsplash.My favourite place to get images is Unsplash. It doesn’t have anything on the retroperitoneum or abscesses, so I went with loin, and then kidney, and found this lovely image of a kidney shaped lake. The title may sound to you like another adverse … Continue reading Retroperitoneal abscess with pylephlebitis
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