“For example, in the postoperative setting, acupuncture has been found effective in reducing pain and narcotic use [31, 32]. In addition, its use has demonstrated a significant reduction in the incidence of postoperative opioid-related adverse effects, including nausea, pruritus, dizziness, sedation, and urinary retention [33]. This are clinically relevant findings given that a previous study suggests that patients place almost equal importance in the type and severity of the side effects as they do analgesia efficacy when assessing the outcome of acute pain management [34]. One recent study also suggests that electroacupuncture inhibits the innate immune response elicited by surgical trauma, thus inhibiting trauma-induced proinflammatory cytokine expression.”
People have continued to use acupuncture for the past 5K years because it works. That’s why it’s now available in so many Western hospitals.
I think it’s quite amusing that people reporting incredible healing is considered cognitive bias — because after all, people don’t actually know if their health is improved. How would they, without you to tell them whether or not it was legitimate? 😉
