The Evidence

Rational Veterinary Medicine:

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Papers, listed by lead author: X,Y,Z

Yuan, J., Purepong, N., Kerr, D.P., Park, J., Bradbury, I., McDonough, S., (2008) Effectiveness of Acupuncture for Low Back Pain: A Systematic Review Spine Vol. 33 no. 23 pp. E887-E900 [permalink]

“Results. Twenty-three trials (n = 6359) were included and classified into 5 types of comparisons, 6 of which were of high quality. There is moderate evidence that acupuncture is more effective than no treatment, and strong evidence of no significant difference between acupuncture and sham acupuncture, for short-term pain relief.”

Links: [medscape]

Ziment, I. and Tashkin, D.P., (2000) Alternative medicine for allergy and asthma Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology Vol.106 pp. 603-614 [permalink]

"The most popular alternative medical treatments [for asthma and allergic respiratory diseases] are herbs (Western and Asiatic), acupuncture, various types of body manipulation, psychologic therapies, homeopathy, and unusual allergy therapies. There is little evidence in favor of most of these unorthodox treatments...

"Many of these unorthodox therapies are fraudulent or are ridiculous placebos…"

Links: [abstract - JAC online]:[abstract, pubmed]:[full text pdf]:[full text, html]