Remember, as Tim Minchin says, there’s a word for alternative medicine that works…
…medicine.
So acupuncture is ‘hogwash’ ?
Pretty much, yes
Not to say that placebo can’t be a powerful medicine, but clinical trials into acupuncture have either been badly designed, failed to show a benefit above placebo or both.
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Like religion, it works if you believe in it.
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too long; didn’t read summary: If something is extraordinary it requires extraordinary proof. Plenty of research published but no good research (ie double blinded large samples unbiased analysis) that supports acupuncture . Placebo is the best it can achieve. Traditional chinese medicine the same or worse, it was invented during Mao’s regime to counter the lack of actual doctors (https://slate.com/technology/2013/10/traditional-chinese-medicine-origins-mao-invented-it-but-didnt-believe-in-it.html).
It is really unfortunate how the “big pharma” meme makes people thing that fringe and alternative medicine is some sort of saviour, hidden remedies that “they” don’t want us to know about. We can see the damage that a single cherry picked and biased study into vacccination and autism has spawned a swathe of antivax feeling, perhaps just concerned parents who only want the best, actually putting their own children at risk and other who for legitimate reason cant vaccinate. The Lancet has since withdrawn the paper and the author now disbarred, but its still floating out there for anyone to come across and not look any further plus all the other zeolots convinced of conspiracy continuing the misinformation.
And homeopathy - harmless? perhaps until people use it instead of real medicine. Worse, because alternative medicine is unregulated who knows what you are taking. Naturopathy the same - valid on the basis that naturally occurring substances are somehow “healthy” - try a teaspoon of arsenic and see where that gets you?
I despair of all the fantasy health care offered out there. Some harmless I guess but “reiki at a distance”? Give me strength. But then, here’s a thought, how different is that from “I’ll pray for you”.
My wife has just finished cancer treatment - ask not to be prayed for, in case the believer was disappointed. Not to mention the quacks and charlatans offering cancer remedies. Faith is consoling I get it and, in the words of Dave Allan, “May your god go with you”