Does Accupuncture Really Work?
Parade Magazine
By Dr. Isadore Rosenfeld
Published: July 9, 2006
More than 8 million Americans at one time or another have turned to acupuncture therapy
for relief from pain or other distress. Today, thousands of acupuncturists—as well as
medical doctors, dentists and other health professionals who have learned this technique
—are using it to treat everything from migraines to nausea, menstrual cramps to tennis
elbow, asthma to addiction.
In 1996, the Food and Drug Administration approved acupuncture needles for licensed
practitioners, with the requirement that the needles be sterile, nontoxic and disposed of
after a single use. The needles are hair-thin and introduced under the skin at one or more
specific sites. When properly done under sterile conditions, acupuncture is safe and
relatively painless.
Some insurers reimburse for prescribed acupuncture—even though its effectiveness
remains controversial and its presumed mechanism of action unclear. In my own practice,
it has helped some patients but not others.
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- Fall '08
- ENGEL,STEV
- Marketing, Food and Drug Administration, acupuncture needles, menstrual cramps, sham acupuncture, Dr. Isadore Rosenfeld
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