FWD: USA Today-Fringe Science No More

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From: byrd45 (Original Message) Sent: 5/27/2005 8:52 AM
Fringe science no more
By Kathleen Fackelmann, USA TODAY
Judy Baggett-Stone believed she had a high tolerance for pain from years of pushing her body while playing competitive volleyball and other sports. But several years ago, the pain in her shoulders had her on her knees, crying at times.

Judy Bagget-Stone's debilitating shoulder and arm pain was relieved by Dr. Nader Solomon's acupuncture treatments.
By H. Darr Beiser, USA TODAY

"It was excruciating," she says, and over-the-counter and prescription drugs couldn't control it. Baggett-Stone kept calling her doctor, but the shoulder pain kept getting worse. She decided to try acupuncture, the ancient Chinese practice of inserting thin needles into specific spots on the body.

Baggett-Stone, 40, a physical education teacher at Damascus (Md.) High School, received acupuncture once a week for eight weeks and gets booster treatments every month or so.

"I am pain-free now," she says.

Baggett-Stone is one of a small but growing number of Americans who have tried acupuncture. A USA TODAY/ABC News/Stanford University Medical Center poll released Monday found that 5% of American adults have turned to acupuncture for pain relief. The national poll of 1,204 adults has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

According to the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, acupuncture has become increasingly popular in the USA over the past two decades. The American Academy of Medical Acupuncture, a Los Angeles-based organization that represents doctors who practice acupuncture, says membership has grown from 200 in 1991 to more than 2,000.

A federal survey in 2002 put the number of Americans who have tried acupuncture at 8.2 million. That number could rise as people in chronic pain scramble for alternatives to Vioxx and Bextra, blockbuster drugs that have been removed from the market in recent months because of safety concerns.

"We're seeing more and more patients now, because they're scared to take these drugs, or they've had side effects," says Nader Soliman, former president of the American Academy of Medical Acupuncture and the doctor who treats Baggett-Stone.

Yin and yang

Acupuncture started in China more than 2,000 years ago. The Chinese believed diseases such as arthritis were caused by an imbalance in life forces: yin and yang. The imbalance leads to a blockage of qi (pronounced chee), a vital energy source in the body. Acupuncture was thought to unblock that energy, which helped ease the pain.

For years, words like yin and yang relegated acupuncture to the fringe of medical science in the USA. The technique gained credibility during the 1980s and '90s as scientific studies began to suggest that acupuncture could trigger the release of natural painkillers.

Several large studies reported in the past year and a half could push the technique into the mainstream.

"Skeptics used to say, 'Oh no, it's just Chinese mysticism,' " says researcher Andrew Vickers of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York. "Now the evidence that acupuncture is effective is very strong and growing."

Experts such as Soliman are quick to say that acupuncture is no cure, and cost can be a problem. About 70% of insurers cover acupuncture treatments, Soliman says. However, Medicare, the federal insurer for the elderly, doesn't pay for it. The procedure typically costs $60 to $90 a session.

Massage, humor can help

Acupuncture isn't the only non-drug treatment for pain, especially pain caused by osteoarthritis or headaches. Other alternative therapies for vanquishing pain:


Massage therapy not only feels good but also might help ease pain longer-term by relaxing muscles and increasing blood flow to the area.

Regular exercise such as walking, swimming or even yoga all release natural painkillers made by the body.

Humor therapy such as watching a funny movie might help interrupt the pain cycle.

Get enough sleep. Fatigue often can make pain worse.

Sources: Seymour Diamond, spokesman for the National Headache Foundation and director of the Diamond Headache Clinic in Chicago, and Patience White of the Arthritis Foundation, based in Atlanta.






Studies shed light

Previous studies on acupuncture were small and inconclusive, but more recent research is shedding light on how well the technique works.

• An analysis of 22 studies showed that acupuncture relieved lower back pain when compared with no treatment or with "fake" acupuncture in which needles were inserted in the wrong places.

Many people in these studies still need painkillers, but acupuncture often provides them with an extra measure of comfort, according to the analysis published in the April 19 Annals of Internal Medicine.

"This is a big change for people. They're able to work or play with their children," says researcher Brian Berman at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore.

• A study of 570 people with osteoarthritis of the knee found that those who received acupuncture had a significant decrease in pain compared with those who received fake acupuncture or standard care. That study was published in the Dec. 21 Annals of Internal Medicine.

That finding, from the best and largest study of its kind, suggests that acupuncture does provide more than a placebo effect, says Ted Kaptchuk, an expert on Chinese medicine at the Harvard Medical School. But such evidence still stops short of providing scientists with proof that acupuncture is effective, he cautions.

• The technique might not work as well for certain types of painful conditions. A report May 4 in The Journal of the American Medical Association suggests that acupuncture works no better than placebo for the treatment of migraine headaches. But other studies indicate that acupuncture does offer relief for migraines.

The evidence is enough for many patients, especially people such as Baggett-Stone. Acupuncture not only helped ease the discomfort in her shoulder, but it also vanquished disabling pain in her left hand, she says.

Now Baggett-Stone can play with her children, go on a 5-mile run or even lift weights.

"I'm not shut down with bouts of pain anymore," she says. "I try to take advantage of that."