New Studies Confirm Acupuncture Relieves Pain MRI Scans Provide Objective Evidence that Treatment Works
By Michael Devitt, contributing editor
For more than 2,500 years, acupuncture has been one of the world’s most popular forms of health care. Only in the latter part of this century has the practice of acupuncture gained acceptance in North America, but the profession appears to have earned much respect in that short time. A 1998 study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, for example, showed that medical doctors refer their patients to acupuncturists more than any other “alternative” care provider; the same study also revealed that 51% of medical doctors believe acupuncture to be efficacious and of value.
A pair studies done in 2000 – one conducted at the University of Heidelberg in Germany, the other at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ), show objective evidence that acupuncture works as a form of pain relief and that certain types of acupuncture work better than others.
