Stimulated by Kim et al 2019.[1] Photo by Iai_man_nung on Unsplash. I have been waiting for this network meta-analysis to be published since reviewing it 18 months ago. It introduces data to support an idea that I have had in my head for some time but never thought to actually try to quantify. This paper … Continue reading Do sham devices impede real acupuncture?
Stimulated by Jiao et al 2019.[1] Photo by Ibrahim Rifath on Unsplash. Over the 25 plus years that I have been using acupuncture techniques, I have treated very few patients for eczema or eczema-related symptoms. In the early days, when I took on an existing practice from Adrian White, I was presented with a number … Continue reading Acupuncture for atopic eczema
Stimulated by Chen et al 2019.[1] Photo by Carolina Heza on Unsplash. I nearly overlooked this paper when it popped up on my PubMed search a few days after being published online in the Journal of Neurology on 21st August 2019. I guess it was the comparison with propranolol, and the fact that beta-blockers have … Continue reading Acupuncture vs propranolol in migraine
Stimulated by Lin et al 2019.[1] Photo by Robina on Unsplash. Not more adverse event reports I hear you cry! No, this paper is very different, and again unexpected, despite actually being rather similar to the previous one I highlighted (sorry to be cryptic). It was just last week that I was musing at the … Continue reading Post-acupuncture pneumothorax incidence
Stimulated by Han et al 2019.[1] Photo by Hisu Lee on Unsplash.Chosen because this Korean woman will certainly get neck painif she reads like this for any significant length of time 😉 I was very pleased to see this huge (n>100 000) retrospective cohort study publish online yesterday in Acupuncture in Medicine. I have commented … Continue reading Can acupuncture prevent neck surgery?
Stimulated by Baeumler et al 2019.[1] Photo by Jeremy Bishop on Unsplash. This paper’s first author is the lovely Petra, who presented at the BMAS Autumn meeting at the Royal Society in 2012. I remember how impressed she was to be surrounded by so many famous busts of scientist heroes. I was busy organising the … Continue reading Temporal summation and acute acupuncture analgesia 2019
Stimulated by Zhao et al 2019.[1] Photo by Dominik Lange on Unsplash. This paper was published online earlier this week but appeared on my PubMed search this morning. I was planning to write about hemifacial spasm today, highlighting quite a big (n=539) neurosurgical review of MVD (microvascular decompression) from China,[2] but this paper on electroacupuncture … Continue reading Chronic stable angina and point specificity
Stimulated by Tucciarone et al and Choi et al 2019.[1,2] Photo by Jairo Alzate on Unsplash. These two papers popped up on one of my PubMed searches on Monday 22nd July. They are both adverse events related to acupuncture in the region of the spine. One avoidable, and the other probably not, and both in … Continue reading Spinal AEs 2019
Stimulated by Abanes et al 2019.[1] Photo by Ian Espinosa on Unsplash. This is a small feasibility study that came out last month. I saw it on my PubMed searches but could not access full text. It was a single arm (n=16) study, so I felt I was not missing too much by not seeing … Continue reading Perceived stress 2019
Stimulated by Sun et al 2019.[1] Photo by Alora Griffiths on Unsplash. Ever since I started reading sham controlled acupuncture trials in the early 90’s I have focussed most on the adequacy of the treatment (probably in a self-referential way) compared with the stimulus strength in the sham. I saw Jorge Vas’s trial in OA knee published in … Continue reading Parameters of dose for acupuncture
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